4.  n.i6. 


ai  fto  ShroIOfjtVj,/  M 

PRINCETON,  N.  J. 


Presented  by  c)\n  <2~  £Xn  \ C^er^OG^'r'YVfSSS) . 

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Division  . 
Section 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 
in  2016 


https://archive.org/details/japansrealattituOOiyen 


Japan’s  Real  Attitude 
toward  America 

A Reply  to 

Mr.  George  Bronson  Rea’s  “Japan’s  Place 
in  the  Sun — the  Menace  to  America” 


Edited  by 

Toyokichi  Iyenaga,  Ph.D. 

Professorial  Lecturer,  Department  of  Political  Science, 
University  of  Chicago 

Managing  Director,  East  and  West  News  Bureau 


G.  P.  Putnam’s  Sons 
New  York  and  London 

Gbe  flmtcfcerbocber  press 
1916 


l/> 


Foreword 

This  booklet  is  laid  before  the  American  public 
with  the  view  of  making  clear  Japan’s  attitude  to- 
ward America.  Recently  Mr.  George  Bronson  Rea, 
editor  of  the  Far  Eastern  Review,  issued  a pamphlet 
entitled  Japan's  Place  in  the  Sun — the  Menace 
to  America.  In  that  pamphlet  charges  are  made 
that  Japan  regards  the  United  States  as  her  future 
enemy;  that  she  is  secretly  and  heavily  arming  for 
the  contingency ; that  we  on  our  part  are  acting  as 
agents  to  conceal  with  malicious  intent  from  Ameri- 
can eyes  actual  facts  about  Japan  and  thus  proving, 
while  loyal  to  our  native  country,  traitors  to  the 
country  wherein  we  now  reside.  These  are  grave 
charges.  I abhor  controversy  with  anyone.  But 
when  such  serious  charges  are  made  against  us  and 
the  pamphlet  containing  them  is  distributed,  as  I un- 
derstand it,  among  the  members  of  Congress  and  other 
important  personages,  I owe  it  to  my  associates  and 
myself  in  self-defense  and  to  both  countries,  whose  wel- 
fare I have  at  heart,  to  present  our  side  of  the  case. 

Mr.  Rea  asserts  his  sincerity  and  patriotism  as  a 

iii 


IV 


Foreword 


motive  of  his  propaganda.  But  this  assertion  is  not 
sustained  by  what  he  has  done.  He  has  distorted 
facts,  and  made  false  allegations  and  base  insinua- 
tions. In  quoting  the  utterances  and  writings  of 
Japanese  statesmen  and  publicists,  Mr.  Rea  so 
garbles  and  mutilates  them  that  they  often  lose 
their  original  significance  or  convey  totally  differ- 
ent meanings.  If  this  method  were  followed,  it 
would  not  be  a difficult  task  for  one  to  make  of  St. 
Paul  a rabid  jingoist  and  an  unholy  man.  The 
industry  of  Mr.  Rea  in  collecting  materials  from 
Japanese  sources  is  not  matched  by  a clear  insight 
into  the  spirit  of  Japan.  This  disparity  is  indeed  so 
striking  that  one  is  led  to  think  that  his  industry 
was  expended  not  to  get  at  the  spirit  of  things  Japan- 
ese but  to  gather  materials  in  order  to  enforce  his 
already  made-up  ideas,  to  accomplish  an  ulterior 
object  he  has  in  view.  It  is  evident  that  Mr.  Rea 
has  no  knowledge  of  Japanese  language  or  literature. 
Otherwise  he  would  have  been  able  to  make  at  once 
a clean-cut  distinction  between  the  real  Bomu  Kaigi 
and  the  imaginary  Kokumin  Gunji  Kio-Kai , whose 
confusion  in  his  mind  has  led  him  to  make  the  silliest 
attack  upon  Japan  and  ourselves  in  the  whole  course 
of  his  crusade.  No  other  materials  outside  those  he 
himself  has  presented  are  needed  to  show  the  ab- 
surdity of  his  thesis. 


Foreword 


v 


However,  the  loud  advertisement  that  the  argu- 
ments advanced  are  based  on  authoritative  Japanese 
sources,  and  the  apparent  richness  of  these  quotations 
coupled  with  the  fervor  of  a patriot  with  which  the 
advocacy  is  performed,  are  apt  to  give  a false  im- 
pression to  those  not  conversant  with  the  Japanese 
language  and  affairs  or  too  busy  to  scrutinize  the 
nature  of  Mr.  Rea’s  deductions,  and  thus  lend  to  his 
pamphlet  a weight  which  is  far  from  its  due.  Unless 
disproved  I fear  no  small  harm  might  be  done  by 
Mr.  Rea’s  writings  to  the  friendly  relations  be- 
tween Japan  and  America  whose  continuance  is  to 
the  true  interest  of  the  two  countries.  I feel,  there- 
fore, it  is  my  bounden  duty  to  both  countries  to 
which  I owe  so  much  to  make  an  intelligent  exposi- 
tion of  Japan’s  positionand  her  relation  with  America. 
It  is  with  this  aim  that  I have  compiled  the  following 
articles  that  have  mainly  appeared  already  in  the 
American  press  with  a platform  address  of  my  own  and 
present  them  in  this  convenient  form  to  the  public. 

In  an  especial  manner,  too,  it  is  necessary  that  the 
indignant  protests  of  those  American  friends  of  Japan 
whom  Mr.  Rea  has  so  coarsely  and  basely  assailed 
should  be  heard.  No  implication  of  disloyalty  to 
one’s  national  flag  could  fail  to  stir  the  feelings  of  an 
honest  man.  That  belief  in  the  good  faith,  pacific 
intentions  and  friendly  attitude  of  Japan  toward 


VI 


Foreword 


the  United  States  should  submit  these  gentlemen 
to  insult  is  deplorable  in  free  America.  That  the 
false  and  unfounded  plea  of  the  libeller  should  be 
that  either  they  or  Japan  itself  had  opposed  openly 
or  secretly  America’s  “preparedness”  campaign  is 
wholly  in  line  with  his  reckless  recourse  to  the 
preposterous. 

I express  my  many  thanks  to  the  N.  Y.  Tribune, 
the  N.  Y.  Sun,  the  N.  Y.  Evening  Post,  and  the 
Public  Ledger  of  Philadelphia,  through  whose  cour- 
tesy the  letters  addressed  to  the  editors  are  herein 
reproduced. 

T.  I. 

New  York,  March  4,  1916. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Foreword  .......  iii 

“What  Japan  Owes  to  America.” — Count 

Okuma  .......  i 

“America  and  Japan.” — T.  Iyenaga  . . 7 

“Weak  Points  in  Mr.  Rea’s  Armor  and 

Method.” — T.  Iyenaga  ....  28 

“Japan’s  Financial  Stability.”  Letter  to 

the  “N.  Y.  Tribune.” — R.  Ichinomiya  . 47 

“ Mr.  Rea  and  his  Mission.” — J . I.  C.  Clarke  53 

“Cry  of  ‘Nippon  Ueber  Ali.es  ’ does  not 
Come  from  Japan.”  Letter  to  the 
“ Public  Ledger  ” of  Philadelphia. — 
Sidney  L.  Gulick  .....  69 

“ ‘ Shanghai  Attitude  ’ and  Anti-Japanese 
Propaganda.”  Letter  to  the  “ Public 
Ledger.”—  Dr.  R.  B.  Teusler  ...  77 

“Japan  and  America.”  Letter  to  the 

“Public  Ledger.” — Russell  Dilkes  . . 84 

vii 


Vlll 


Contents 


PAGE 

“Japan’s  National  Defense  Board.”  Letter 

to  the  “ N.  Y.  Tribune.” — C.  Ohira  . 87 

“Conspiring  to  Make  Trouble  with  Japan.” 
Letter  to  the  “New  York  Evening  Post.” 

— C.  Ohira  ......  90 


Japan’s  Real  Attitude  toward  America 


Japan’s  Real  Attitude  Toward 
America 


WHAT  JAPAN  OWES  TO  AMERICA 
Count  Okuma 

The  following  is  the  translation  by  the  special  cor- 
respondent of  the  New  York  Sun  of  a part  of  Count 
Okuma’s  article  that  was  published  in  the  Shin  Nippon. 
It  reflects  correctly  the  real  attitude  of  the  Count  toward 
America,  which  is  so  maligned  in  Mr.  Rea’s  pamphlet. 
The  New  York  Sun  published  the  translation  in  its  issue 
of  February  6,  1916,  and  through  the  courtesy  of  the 
paper  it  is  reproduced  here. 

{Special  Correspondence  to  “ The  Sun") 

Tokio,  Jan.  4. — Count  Okuma’s  appreciation  of 
America’s  part  in  the  upbuilding  of  modem  Japan 
is  contained  in  an  article  appearing  in  the  Shin  Nip- 
pon Magazine , extracts  from  which  are  here  given : 
“Japan  might  possibly  have  been  forced  to  come 
out  of  her  exclusive  policy  without  waiting  for  the 

American  Commodore  to  awaken  her.  Yet  it  was 

1 


2 


What  Japan  Owes  to  America 


undoubtedly  her  good  fortune  to  have  had  as  her 
introducer  to  the  world  a country  like  the  United 
States,  known  for  her  traditional  policy  of  modera- 
tion, justice,  and  humanity. 

"In  1859,  by  the  second  article  of  the  American- 
Japanese  treaty,  the  President  assumed  the  obliga- 
tion to  strive  to  bring  about  an  amicable  settlement 
of  the  disputes  that  might  arise  between  Japan  and 
other  Powers;  in  other  words,  to  speak  for  Japan  in 
the  diplomatic  negotiations  with  other  Powers.  It 
was  only  with  the  United  States  that  such  a treaty 
has  ever  been  concluded,  though  subsequently  some 
amendment  was  introduced.  Again  it  was  under 
the  influence  of  American  spirit  that  General  Grant 
kindly  mediated  between  China  and  Japan  in  1879. 
So  was  it  when  President  Roosevelt  successfully 
endeavored  to  bring  the  Russo-Japanese  War  to  a 
speedy  close.  Not  only  that,  Japan  had  her  first 
lessons  in  diplomacy  from  the  United  States  of 
America.  The  treaties  concluded  with  England, 
Russia,  France,  and  Holland  were  all  modeled  from 
the  aforementioned  American- Japanese  Treaty  of 
1859. 

GRATEFUL  TO  AMERICANS 

“ We  can  never  be  too  grateful  toward  T.  Harris, 
who  always  assisted  Japan  with  open-hearted  friend- 


What  Japan  Owes  to  America 


3 


ship  in  the  days  of  her  infancy,  while  at  the  same 
time  we  can  not  too  strongly  condemn  the  unpardon- 
able blindness  of  the  Japanese  to  have  assassinated 
the  senior  minister  Ii  of  the  Tokugawa  Government 
for  the  meaningless  charge  of  sacrificing  the  national 
interests  to  the  convenience  of  the  United  States. 
Again,  consider  what  an  American  minister  did  when 
an  American  translator  in  her  legation  service  was 
killed  in  Akabane,  Tokio,  by  a political  fanatic. 
The  representatives  of  all  the  other  States  not  di- 
rectly concerned  with  the  affair  withdrew  from  Tokio 
to  Yokohama  in  the  sense  of  blaming  the  Japan- 
ese authorities  for  not  affording  sufficient  protection 
to  foreigners.  Instead  of  following  their  examples 
Mr.  Harris,  the  American  minister,  took  a very  con- 
siderate view  of  the  matter,  saying  that  the  matter 
was  of  purely  private  concern,  and  therefore  that 
the  government  had  nothing  to  do  with  it.  With 
admirable  indifference  and  courage  he  continued  to 
reside  in  Tokio. 

"Other  European  countries  that  have  sent  their 
missionaries  could  not  at  all  compare  with  the  United 
States  in  number  of  their  agents  and  grandeur  of 
ideals.  Therefore,  it  is  never  unjust  to  say  that 
Japan  is  indebted  to  the  United  States  in  the  highest 
degree  for  her  progress  and  advancement  in  the 
path  of  modem  civilization. 


4 


What  Japan  Owes  to  America 


“When  Shimmi  Bungonokami  went  to  the  United 
States  as  the  first  Japanese  envoy,  in  i860,  for  the 
exchange  of  treaty  ratifications,  the  American  Con- 
gress voted  for  the  reception  expenses  of  $50,000 
to  welcome  the  envoy  and  his  suite,  who  were  over- 
whelmed by  the  warmth  of  friendship  and  the  manner 
of  reception.  Each  State,  hearing  the  news  of  their 
arrival,  also  invited  them  as  their  public  guests. 
To  them  the  trip  was  an  endless  chain  of  surprises. 
Telegraphs,  railways,  factories,  schools,  printing 
offices,  newspapers,  and  everything  else  dazzled  their 
imaginations  and  so  impressively  wrought  upon 
their  spirit  that  after  they  came  home  they  took 
the  initiative  to  introduce  American  civilization  in 
Japan. 

“An  act  of  friendship  on  the  part  of  the  United 
States  which  left  an  indelible  impression  in  the 
memory  of  our  countrymen  was  shown  in  connection 
with  the  indemnity  ($3,000,000)  Japan  was  forced 
to  pay  for  the  reckless  bombardment  of  American, 
British,  French,  and  Dutch  warships,  an  act  that 
was  committed  by  the  pro-exclusion  faction  of  the 
Choshu  clan.  The  amount  of  $750,000  due  to  the 
United  States  did  not  much  please  her  Congress, 
who  condemned  it  as  an  unjust  booty  not  susceptible 
of  honorable  acceptance.  The  sum,  after  remaining 
adrift  for  some  time  owing  to  the  absence  of  re- 


What  Japan  Owes  to  America 


5 


cipients,  was  finally  placed  in  deposit  with  a certain 
bank  in  New  York.  In  1883,  it  was  returned  to  the 
Japanese  Government  with  $30,000  added  as  inter- 
est. Such  a noble  act  can  in  fact  be  expected  only 
from  a country  with  American  standards  of  inter- 
national morality.  It  shows  what  a lofty  ideal  of 
justice  and  friendship  Americans  cherish  among 
themselves. 

“The  act  subsequently  gave  rise  to  a discussion 
among  the  Japanese  Government  officials  as  to  the 
proper  way  of  disposing  of  the  amount  so  generously 
given  back.  My  own  proposal  was  fortunately 
approved  and  accepted,  and  it  was  applied  to  the 
improvement  of  the  Yokohama  harbor  works,  which 
therefore  should  be  considered  as  an  everlasting 
souvenir  of  the  American  friendship. 

INFLUENCE  OF  AMERICAN  IDEALS 

“When  we  review  our  modem  history  we  find 
Japan  on  the  verge  of  ruin  toward  the  end  of  the 
Tokugawa  dynasty,  absolutely  defenseless  and  ex- 
posed to  the  hazards  of  falling  prey  to  the  territorial 
ambition  of  the  great  Powers  of  Europe.  The  great- 
ness of  the  late  Emperor,  the  timely  awakening  and 
profound  consciousness  of  the  nation,  the  advantage 
of  geographical  position,  the  favorable  turn  of  sur- 


6 What  Japan  Owes  to  America 

rounding  circumstances  and  others  have  done  a great 
deal  toward  bringing  about  the  present  prosperity 
of  this  country.  Even  then,  had  it  not  been  for  the 
disinterested  friendship  and  friendly  assistance  of 
the  grand  republic  in  the  early  days  of  Meiji,  what 
more  embarrassing  situations  and  perhaps  insur- 
mountable difficulties  might  not  have  checked  the 
progress  of  the  national  prosperity ! 

“We  shall  be  most  deservedly  stigmatized  as 
ungrateful  people  should  we  let  these  memorable  cir- 
cumstances slip  out  of  our  grateful  memory.  Not 
only  should  we  not  forget  it  but  we  must  endeavor  to 
behave  unto  others  just  as  the  United  States  behaved 
towards  us.  We  should  do  well  to  sympathize  with 
the  honest  endeavors  of  the  weaker  nations  now 
struggling  to  rise  in  the  world  of  international  poli- 
tics and  for  this  purpose  spare  no  efforts  in  urging 
the  other  great  Powers  to  follow  the  noble  example 
set  by  the  United  States  in  her  policy  toward  Japan 
of  half  a century  ago.” 


AMERICA  AND  JAPAN 

T.  Iyenaga 


The  following  address  has  been  delivered  within  the 
past  few  months  before  various  American  audiences,  and 
reported  in  full  or  in  part  in  the  columns  of  some  of  the 
leading  papers  of  New  York,  Boston,  Baltimore,  and 
other  places.  As  the  speech  dwells  upon  some  of  the 
vital  questions  involved  in  the  Japanese- American 
relations,  and  supplements  what  I have  written  in  the 
succeeding  article,  it  is  inserted  here  with  the  hope  of 
appealing  to  a wider  public  and  making  clear  what  I 
regard  as  Japan’s  position  and  attitude  toward  America. 
This  survey  of  the  American- Japanese  relations  con- 
stitutes in  effect  my  reply  to  Mr.  Rea’s  pamphlet,  and 
serves  the  purpose  the  better,  for  the  address  being  a 
straight-forward  appeal  to  disinterested  audiences  is 
entirely  free  from  the  unpleasantness  that  usually 
attends  controversial  discussion. 

I shall  endeavor  here  to  discuss  what  I consider 
to  be  the  most  important  questions  that  lie  in  the 
way  of  Japanese- American  intercourse.  In  doing 
so,  I beg  you  to  grant  me  the  privilege  of  being  per- 
fectly frank  and  outspoken.  Mutual  understanding 
of  one  another’s  position  and  views  gained  by  frank 

7 


8 


America  and  Japan 


and  free  discussion  is,  I believe,  the  proper  and  surest 
way  to  find  a happy  solution  of  the  questions  whose 
existence  hampers  the  smooth  working  of  inter- 
national relations. 

Let  us  first  survey  the  past. 

OPENING  OF  JAPAN  AND  THE  AMERICAN  POLICY 

In  the  history  of  international  relations  no  record 
is  so  unique  as  that  of  the  intercourse  between  Japan 
and  the  United  States  during  the  first  five  decades 
of  its  existence — so  romantic  in  its  inception,  so 
pervaded  throughout  by  mutual  good  will,  and  so 
fruitful  of  untold  benefits  to  mankind  at  large. 
Strikingly  dramatic  is  the  scene  that  introduces  the 
first  chapter  of  that  intercourse.  To  the  nation 
still  enjoying  a torpor  of  centuries  and  only  equipped 
with  bows  and  arrows,  swords  and  spears,  Commo- 
dore Perry  suddenly  makes  his  advent  in  1853  into 
the  Bay  of  Yedo  with  the  stately  fleet  of  eight  ships, 
armed  with  230  cannon.  And,  contrary  to  the 
world’s  expectation,  the  adroit  sailor-diplomat 
succeeds  in  forcing  open  the  door  of  the  nation  that 
had  for  ages  been  hermetically  closed  against  aliens, 
without  a shot  being  fired,  a man  wounded,  or  a junk 
sunk.  For  his  was  truly  a peaceful  mission.  Behind 
that  outward  display  of  force,  under  that  glittering 


America  and  Japan 


9 


uniform  of  the  commodore,  there  was  hidden  the 
spirit  of  American  friendship  toward  Japan  which 
he  had  been  commissioned  to  disclose.  That  Japan 
soon  discovered  it  and  remembers  it  with  gratitude 
is  evinced  by  the  monument  wrhich  now  stands  on 
the  very  spot  of  Perry’s  first  landing,  and  which, 
backed  by  the  everlasting  green  hills  of  the  Mikado’s 
land,  overlooks  the  blue  waters  of  the  Pacific  that 
binds  in  common  embrace  the  two  great  nations  on 
its  opposite  shores. 

Genuine  Americanism  found  its  finest  expression 
in  Perry’s  successor,  Townsend  Harris.  With  the 
simplicity,  honesty,  and  frankness  worthy  of  a true 
American,  and  with  consummate  tact  and  infinite 
patience,  Harris  overcame  the  innumerable  obstacles, 
which  ignorance,  suspicion,  and  prejudice,  put  in  his 
way,  and  finally  signalized  his  triumph  by  becoming 
the  confidant  and  adviser  of  the  Shogun’s  Govern- 
ment. The  American  policy  of  justice,  fair  dealing, 
and  friendliness,  thus  inaugurated,  was  consistently 
pursued  by  all  the  succeeding  administrations,  and 
put  into  practice  by  able  envoys  who  represented  the 
President  of  the  United  States  at  the  court  of  the 
Mikado — Pruyn  and  Bingham,  Buck  and  O’Brien, 
Griscom  and  Anderson,  and  the  present  envoy,  Mr. 
Guthrie. 

The  refunding  of  the  Shimonoseki  indemnity  in 


io  America  and  Japan 

1883,  the  willing  heart  proffered  for  the  revision  of 
old  treaties  which  denied  to  Japan  the  exercise  of 
judicial  and  tariff  autonomy,  the  good  office  ren- 
dered to  bring  about  the  peaceful  settlement  of  the 
Russo-Japanese  War,  the  commercial  treaty  nego- 
tiated under  the  Taft  Administration  that  facilitated 
the  successful  conclusion  of  new  treaties  with  other 
Powers — these  are  a few  instances,  the  prominent 
posts  on  the  road  of  Japanese- American  intercourse, 
that  will  recall  to  us  hundreds  of  other  instances, 
wherein  we  have  witnessed  the  realization  of  what 
General  Grant  said:  “Whatever  America’s  influence 
may  be,  I am  proud  to  think  that  it  has  always  been 
exerted  in  behalf  of  justice  and  kindness.” 

GOOD  SERVICES  OF  PRIVATE  AMERICANS 

If  the  American  Government  has  exerted  its  influ- 
ence in  this  manner,  no  less  generous  and  striking 
have  been  the  services  rendered  by  private  Americans 
for  the  good  of  Japan.  Long  indeed  is  the  list  of 
American  names  which  add  luster  to  the  pages  of 
modem  Japan.  America  has  sent  hundreds  of  edu- 
cators and  missionaries  to  teach  Japan  in  lessons  of 
science,  law,  and  religion.  And  how  greatly  is  Japan 
indebted  to  many  presidents  and  professors  of 
American  colleges  who  have  educated,  nay,  bestowed 


America  and  Japan 


n 


fatherly  care  upon  tens  of  thousands  of  Japanese 
youths  and  sent  them  home  with  their  benedictions! 
It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that  for  the  past  few 
decades  it  would  have  been  difficult  to  find  one  col- 
lege or  university  of  reputation  in  America  which 
had  not  enrolled  among  its  students  one  or  two 
Japanese  boys.  And  in  each  of  these  youths  there 
remain  some  tokens  of  love  and  kindness  received 
during  college  days  which  will  be  treasured  within 
their  hearts  until  they  cease  to  beat. 

JAPAN  IS  GRATEFUL  TO  AMERICA 

On  the  part  of  Japan  I am  also  proud  to  think  that 
she  has  never  been  slow  to  show  her  appreciation  of 
the  friendship  of  America.  After  enumerating  the 
debts  which  Japan  owes  to  America,  Count  Okuma 
says:  “We  shall  be  most  deservedly  stigmatized  as 
ungrateful  people  should  we  let  these  memorable 
circumstances  slip  out  of  our  grateful  memory.” 
Indeed,  the  sentiment  of  gratitude  toward  America 
pervaded  the  entire  nation.  To  be  an  American 
was,  and  is,  therefore,  the  surest  badge  to  command 
the  respect  and  love  of  the  Japanese  people.  No 
record  of  international  relations,  let  me  repeat  once 
more,  is  then  more  beautiful  and  ennobling  than 
that  which  has  blessed  the  American- Japanese 


12 


America  and  Japan 


intercourse  during  the  past  half  century — justice, 
moderation,  magnanimity  on  one  side,  and  gratitude 
and  appreciation  on  the  other. 

YELLOW  JOURNALISM  AND  HOBSONS 

The  dawn  of  the  twentieth  century  brought,  how- 
ever, a sudden  turn  to  this  happy  history.  The 
attitude  of  America  toward  Japan,  upon  whom  the 
former  uniformly  in  the  past  looked  with  endearing 
patronage  as  a godfather  would  his  foster-child, 
suddenly  changed  to  the  attitude  of  a rival,  swayed 
now  and  then  by  the  fear  of  finding  in  her  a future 
enemy.  This  change  was  due  partly  to  natural 
causes  but  mostly  to  the  work  of  mischief-makers. 
Let  us  consider  how  this  change  was  brought  about. 

At  the  close  of  the  nineteenth  century,  the  baby 
nation  Perry  had  introduced  into  the  family  of 
nations  had  by  dint  of  energy  and  perseverance 
reconstructed  its  whole  scheme  of  life — political, 
economic,  social — and  brought  it  to  the  standard  of 
the  West.  In  a word,  Japan  had  attained  her  matur- 
ity, equipped  with  every  qualification  that  entitled 
her  to  rank  among  the  first-rate  Powers.  This  en- 
viable position,  however,  could  hardly  be  won  by 
the  pure  logic  of  peaceful  progress  achieved  during 
the  past.  What  really  enhanced  Japan’s  standing 


America  and  Japan 


13 


in  the  estimation  of  the  militant  West  was  the  mili- 
tary prestige  she  gained  by  waging  successfully  two 
wars  against  her  two  great  neighbors.  The  pigmy 
of  yesterday  was  thus  suddenly  transformed,  as 
mirrored  in  the  eyes  of  the  military  nations  of  the 
West,  into  a giant  of  to-day,  and  out  of  their  frenzied 
imaginations  there  sprang  up  a strange  monster, 
called  “Yellow  Peril,”  endowed  with  magic  power 
to  carry  fire  and  destruction  into  the  heart  of  Christ- 
endom. It  is  indeed  a strange  coincidence  that  the 
royal  painter  who  drew  for  the  first  time  a picture 
of  a “yellow  peril”  for  the  edification  of  the  Russian 
monarch,  is  the  same  ruler  who  is  now  deluging 
Europe  with  blood.  Stranger  still  is  the  fact  that 
the  world  has  not  yet  seen  any  “yellow  peril”  ma- 
terialize except  in  yellow  journalism ! 

To  add  to  the  confounding  of  the  Occident,  the 
winner  of  the  battle  of  Mukden  displayed  not  only 
skill  in  wielding  weapons  of  warfare,  but  also  an 
ability  to  develop  commerce  and  industry,  until 
Japan  came  to  play  the  rdle  of  a competitor  in  the 
commercial  field,  especially  in  the  market  of  China. 
That  this  was  not  to  the  liking  of  those  who  had 
mapped  out  as  their  own  sphere  that  most  alluring 
field  of  all  in  the  realm  of  trade  needs  no  emphasis. 
In  this  way  the  child,  who  but  yesterday  was  praised 
to  the  skies  for  its  precocity,  came  to  be  looked  upon 


H 


America  and  Japan 


by  some  Americans  as  the  prime  factor  in  raising 
the  “yellow  peril,”  both  military  and  economic. 
The  nightmare  thus  created  by  the  fertile  brain  of 
the  Kaiser  for  the  purpose  of  furthering  his  pet  poli- 
tical scheme  in  Europe,  was  driven  with  the  winds 
across  the  Atlantic  and  came  to  find  its  lodging  even 
in  the  hearts  of  Yankees.  The  fear  and  dislike  of 
Japan  thus  engendered  among  certain  sections  of  the 
American  community  afforded  capital  materials  for 
yellow  journals  to  work  with.  Would  that  those 
papers  had  overlooked  them!  But  alas!  with  the 
adroitness  born  with  such  geniuses  they  eagerly 
seized  upon  the  opportunities,  and  enlisted  them  for 
use  either  in  playing  their  own  game  of  politics  or 
in  promoting  their  special  interests.  If  a “war 
scare  ” was  needed  for  the  passing  through  the  Ameri- 
can Congress  of  army  and  navy  bills,  Japan  was 
every  time  utilized  for  the  purpose.  For  the  last 
ten  years  or  so  Japan  has  thus  enjoyed  the  unique 
privilege  of  monopolizing  the  unenviable  position 
of  being  an  instrument  of  “war-scare”  manufactur- 
ers. It  is  only  quite  recently  that  Germany  has 
come  to  Japan’s  rescue  to  share  that  honorable 
position ! Indeed,  to  further  its  designs,  yellow 
journalism  has  not  hesitated  to  use  every  wit  and 
talent  at  its  command  for  slandering  and  misrepre- 
senting Japan  before  the  American  public. 


America  and  Japan 


15 


Think  of  the  Turtle  Bay  story,  the  Magdalena 
Bay  story,  the  story  of  Japanese-Mexican  alliance, 
the  story  of  Japan’s  designs  on  the  Philippines  and 
on  China.  These  stories  are  white  lies,  shamelessly 
fabricated  and  sent  out  broadcast  throughout  the 
country  to  mislead  and  deceive  the  innocent  and 
the  credulous  among  the  American  people. 

Yellow  journalism  and  Hobsons  could  not,  how- 
ever, have  succeeded  in  making  an  impression  upon 
the  American  public  had  there  been  no  vital  ques- 
tions arising  between  America  and  Japan  that  in- 
vited the  serious  attention  of  the  American  people. 
What,  then,  are  these  questions?  They  are,  first, 
the  Japanese- California  Question;  second,  the  Mon- 
roe Doctrine  and  Japan;  third,  the  policy  of  America 
and  Japan  toward  China.  Let  us  consider  them  in 
order. 


JAPANESE— CALIFORNIA  CONTROVERSY 

The  story  of  the  Japanese-Califomia  controversy 
is  simple  enough  to  tell.  In  1884  the  Chinese  Ex- 
clusion Bill  was  enacted.  As  a result  a large  number 
of  Japanese  laborers  were  invited  by  California 
landlords  and  Western  railroad  companies  to  come 
to  America  and  work  in  place  of  Chinese  laborers 
as  farmhands  and  section-men.  Thus  encouraged 


i6 


America  and  Japan 


the  number  of  Japanese  immigrants  increased  year 
by  year,  until  it  grew  to  such  an  alarming  proportion 
as  to  arouse  strong  antagonism  of  the  labor  and 
trade  unions  on  the  Pacific  Coast.  This  forced  the 
Washington  Government  to  enter  into  the  so-called 
“Gentlemen’s  Agreement”  with  the  Tokio  Govern- 
ment which  agreed  to  voluntarily  prohibit  further 
importation  into  America  of  Japanese  laborers.  The 
discovery  by  the  Japanese  Government  of  its  blunder 
in  not  restricting  the  overflow  of  Japanese  laborers 
into  this  country,  however,  came  too  late.  A great 
number  of  Japanese  immigrants  had  already  come  and 
settled  thickly  in  certain  spots  of  California.  And 
the  friction  between  Japanese  and  white  laborers 
and  farmers  increased  yearly,  until  it  culminated  in 
the  enactment  of  the  Anti- Alien  Land  Law  of  three 
years  ago. 

In  discussing  the  Japanese-Califomia  question  a 
clear  distinction  must,  therefore,  be  made  between 
the  immigration  question  and  the  controversy  over 
the  Anti-Alien  Land  Act.  The  former — Immigration 
Question — has  already  been  settled  by  the  “Gentle- 
men’s Agreement”  which  is  kept  by  the  Japanese 
Government  with  utmost  faith,  in  fact,  so  rigorously 
that  no  Japanese  student  without  means  can  any 
longer  come  here  for  education.  What  is  really  at 
issue  is  the  fair  and  just  treatment  of  Japanese  resi- 


America  and  Japan 


1 7 


dents  who  have  come  here  in  obedience  to  and  under 
protection  of  the  Treaty  entered  into  between  Japan 
and  America.  What  Japan  says  to  America  is, 
then,  this: 

“Frankly,  we  are  not  pleased  with  the  exclusion 
policy  you  pursue  against  us.  But  sound  philosophy 
imposes  upon  us  patience  and  long-suffering  to  see 
the  dawn  of  the  Kingdom  of  Heaven  upon  this 
earth,  when  all  men  shall  shake  hands  as  brothers. 
When  race,  economic  conditions,  and  civilization  are 
so  different  between  your  people  and  ours  it  is  the 
part  of  wisdom  not  to  force  upon  them  their  inter- 
mingling. We  do  not,  therefore,  want  to  let  loose 
hordes  of  our  uncultured  laborers  upon  your  fat 
lands.  Their  friction  with  American  laborers  would 
prove  greatly  prejudicial  to  our  larger  interests. 
That  is  the  reason  why  we  have  acquiesced  in  the 
Gentlemen’s  Agreement.  What  wye  cannot  but  ob- 
ject to,  however,  is  the  clean-cut  discrimination 
you  have  made  against  our  people  as  is  evidenced  in 
the  California  Land  Law.  We  consider  this  as  in 
violation  of  the  treaty  existing  between  us.  We 
feel  strongly  that  the  principles  of  justice,  fair 
dealing,  and  humanity  upon  which  Washington 
founded  and  Lincoln  reconstructed  this  great  Repub- 
lic, should  impel  you  to  render  justice  to  one  to 
whom  it  is  due.” 


i8 


America  and  Japan 


Japan’s  position  seems  to  me,  therefore,  very  fair 
and  unassailable.  As  a matter  of  fact,  the  Federal 
government  at  Washington  held  at  first  the  same 
view,  as  is  clearly  demonstrated  by  the  history  of 
its  procedure  toward  the  California  Legislature. 
Once  the  Land  Law  was  enacted,  however,  the  pecu- 
liar Constitution  of  the  United  States,  especially 
as  interpreted  by  the  ruling  party  of  the  present  day, 
makes  the  Washington  government  almost  impotent 
to  mend  the  matter.  Such  being  the  case,  it  would 
be  foolish  to  imagine  that  the  Japanese-Califomia 
controversy  would  develop  into  anything  more 
serious  than  diplomatic  wrangling.  But  so  long  as 
this  question  remains  unsettled  it  will  act  as  a 
thorn  in  the  smooth  working  of  Japanese- American 
relations. 

Mr.  Tokutomi,  editor  of  the  Kokumin  Shimbun, 
expresses  most  frankly  this  viewpoint : 

We  doubt  whether  relations  with  America  can  be 
improved  by  the  present  methods  of  shaking  hands  and 
exchanging  cordial  compliments.  In  answer  to  Japan’s 
complaints  against  injustice  to  her  nationals,  America 
merely  sends  over  messengers  to  tell  the  Japanese  how 
much  America  loves  them,  a policy  which  is  evidently 
futile.  The  friendship  of  the  two  nations  cannot  be  pre- 
served for  any  length  of  time  on  a basis  of  discrimination. 
If  America  really  cares  for  friendship  with  the  Japanese 
he  should  accord  them  equal  treatmen  t with  Europeans. 


America  and  Japan 


19 


So  long  as  Japanese  are  subjected  to  discriminatory 
treatment  in  any  part  of  the  United  States,  there  is  no 
hope  of  any  permanent  friendship  between  the  two 
nations. 

Sooner  or  later,  I confidently  believe,  justice  will 
be  rendered  to  Japan.  When  and  in  what  way  shall 
it  be  done?— this  is  for  you  to  say.  If  there  is  a 
will  there  is  certainly  a wTay.  I may  be  permitted 
to  add  that  it  does  not  seem  a wise  statesmanship 
which  only  fears  some  trouble  with  another  country 
and  strenuously  prepares  for  such  an  evil  day,  in- 
stead of  zealously  applying  itself  to  root  out  the  causes 
of  the  trouble.  The  trouble  with  Japan  is  none  other 
but  of  your  own  making;  your  fears  of  Japan  are  none 
other  than  the  products  of  your  own  imagination. 

THE  MONROE  DOCTRINE  AND  JAPAN 

But  some  say  Japan  pays  scant  respect  to  the 
Monroe  Doctrine  and  might  even  dare  to  assail  it. 
I believe  not.  I can  see  no  reason  why  Japan 
should  be  slow  in  paying  respect  to  the  well-estab- 
lished American  doctrine.  Japan  has  no  political 
interest  or  ambition  in  South  America.  She  only 
wants  her  people  to  go  there  for  trade  and  in  pur- 
suit of  other  industries.  And  the  Monroe  Doctrine 
has  nothing  to  do  with  the  question  of  emigration, 


20 


America  and  Japan 


which  is,  of  course,  the  domestic  matter  of  each 
sovereign  state  of  South  America.  What  conflicting 
interests  are  there,  then,  that  Japan  should  object 
to  the  Monroe  Doctrine,  provided  its  sway  is  limited 
to  the  Western  Hemisphere? 

DEFINITE  FORMULATION  OF  AMERICAN  FAR  EASTERN 
POLICY  NEEDED 

In  the  relations  between  America  and  Japan  there 
is,  to  my  mind,  no  matter  of  greater  importance  than 
the  clear  understanding  of  the  policy  each  will  pursue 
toward  China.  For  in  the  future  of  China  are  in- 
volved Japan’s  most  vital  interests,  and  any  mis- 
understanding concerning  her  Chinese  policy  that 
might  creep  in  among  the  American  people  would  be 
fraught  with  serious  consequences.  What  we,  your 
neighbors,  sincerely  want  to  see,  therefore,  is  the 
definite  formulation  of  the  American  Far  Eastern 
policy,  upon  which  all  concerned  may  depend  and 
feel  safe.  I am  constrained  to  confess  my  inability 
to  understand  what  part  the  American  people  have 
made  up  their  minds  to  play  on  the  Far  Eastern 
stage.  For  there  are  inconsistencies  and  discrepan- 
cies in  the  American  policy  toward  the  Far  East 
which  impartial  observers  cannot  fail  to  discern. 
While  America  is  loudly  crying  for  “open  door”  in 


America  and  Japan  21 

China,  she  herself  is  shutting  tight  her  own  door 
against  Asiatics.  While  America  is  insisting  upon 
other  Powers’  fulfillment  of  treaty  obligations  and 
carrying  into  practice  the  principles  of  justice  and 
humanity,  she  herself  is  rather  slow  to  render  justice 
to  Japan  which  had  been  infringed  by  the  Cali- 
fornia episode  of  three  years  ago.  While  America 
has  proclaimed  to  the  world  the  doctrine  of  “hands 
off”  and  non-interference  in  affairs  of  the  Western 
Hemisphere,  she  herself  had  been  participating,  until 
President  Wilson  reversed  the  policy,  in  Chinese 
affairs  which  had  a political  bearing  and  significance. 
You  cannot,  then,  blame  Japan  for  her  solicitude 
to  see  a definite  formulation  of  the  American  policy 
toward  the  Far  East. 

japan’s  policy  toward  china 

It  is  at  the  same  time  incumbent  on  the  part  of 
Japan  to  make  clear  to  the  American  people  her 
Chinese  policy.  Of  late  much  has  been  talked  about 
Japan’s  foul  designs  on  China.  Let  us  consider 
what  would  be  her  fundamental  policy  toward  China 
as  it  is  dictated  by  her  best  interests.  It  should  be 
and  is  no  other  than  to  cement  the  bond  of  amity 
and  friendship  between  the  two  nations  and  to  safe- 
guard thereby  their  common  interests.  The  well- 
known  policy  of  maintaining  China’s  integrity  and 


22 


America  and  Japan 


independence  and  the  “open  door”  remains  to-day, 
of  course,  the  same  as  it  was  during  the  days  of  John 
Hay  and  Jutaro  Komura.  Japan’s  Chinese  policy, 
therefore,  does  not  in  the  least  run  counter  to  that 
of  America.  True,  this  policy  does  not  spring  from 
pure  altruism  on  the  part  of  Japan,  but  from  her 
enlightened  self-interest.  For  it  should  be  apparent 
even  to  outsiders  that  European  encroachment 
upon  China  would  prove  extremely  prejudicial  to 
Japan’s  interests,  bringing  European  politics  to  her 
very  threshold  and  even  endangering  her  national 
existence,  while  the  closing  of  China’s  door  would 
spell  disaster  to  Japanese  commerce  and  enterprise, 
which  have  no  better  prospect  of  future  development 
elsewhere  than  in  China.  It  is,  therefore,  easy  to 
see  that  to  win  China’s  friendship  and  to  stand 
together  as  fast  friends  in  the  unfolding  of  their 
common  destiny  must  surely  have  been  the  corner- 
stone of  Japan’s  policy  toward  China.  Unfortu- 
nately the  course  each  followed  ran  in  an  opposite 
direction.  Against  the  progressive  policy  of  Japan 
there  stood  long  the  Great  Wall  of  self-conceit, 
bigotry,  and  prejudice  of  the  mandarins.  They 
remained  obdurate  to  the  influence  of  Western  civil- 
ization until  they  saw  their  capital  looted  and  sacked 
twice  within  half  a century  and  their  empire  shaken 
to  its  very  foundation. 


America  and  Japan 


23 


Had  China  followed  at  the  time  she  first  met  the 
West  the  same  course  and  policy  as  Japan,  that  is  to 
say,  to  win  her  place  among  nations  by  her  own 
effort  instead  of  depending  for  her  security  upon  her 
size  and  traditions,  or  upon  the  grace  of  other  Powers, 
then  the  Far  Eastern  history  of  the  last  few  decades 
would  have  been  a totally  different  one.  “The  ulti- 
mate aim  of  our  China  policy,”  says  Count  Okuma, 
“has  been  no  other  than  to  awaken  her  from  this 
morbid  torpor  in  order  to  insure  her  future  prosperity 
and  avoid  conflict  with  European  nations.”  Over 
and  over  Japan’s  friendly  warning  to  China  has 
been  given;  time  and  again  it  has  been  left  unheeded. 
Nay,  even  the  grave  disasters  that  repeatedly  over- 
took China  have  not  succeeded  in  awakening  her 
from  lethargy.  The  sad  and  humiliating  spectacles 
that  meet  one  at  every  turn  in  China,  at  the  Lega- 
tion Quarter  of  Peking  where  foreign  troops  are 
quartered,  making  the  independence  of  China  a 
sham,  at  the  foreign  settlements  of  Tientsin,  Shang- 
hai, Hankow,  wherein  China’s  sovereignty  is  over- 
ridden, and  are  established  “republics  within  the 
Republic” — imperium  in  imperio — these  also  have 
failed  to  make  China  bestir  herself. 

Under  the  circumstances  the  utmost  Japan  could 
do  was  to  adopt  every  legitimate  means  to  safeguard 
her  interests  and  to  prevent  and  forestall  European 


24 


America  and  Japan 


aggression  upon  her  neighbor.  This  is  the  meaning 
of  the  Anglo- Japanese  Alliance.  This  is  the  mean- 
ing of  the  Russo-Japanese  War.  This  is  the  meaning 
of  the  capture  of  Kiaochou  and  Japan’s  attempt  to 
drive  out  of  the  East  its  most  disturbing  factor. 
This  is  the  meaning  of  the  recent  Sino- Japanese 
Treaty.  Had  America  been  placed  in  the  position 
of  Japan,  I dare  say  that  she  would  have  pursued 
the  same  course  as  Japan  did. 

japan’s  friendly  proffers  to  china 

But  the  critics  cry  out:  What  about  Group  V.  of 
the  recent  negotiations,  of  those  demands  intended 
to  make  China  virtually  a Japanese  protectorate? 
Are  they  not  an  infringement  upon  China’s  sover- 
eignty? Certainly  not.  They  were  not  demands 
upon  China,  but  simply  expressed  the  wishes  of 
Japan.  They  were  friendly  proffers,  and  certainly 
Japan  is  entitled  to  offer  to  China  friendly  sugges- 
tions for  her  betterment.  Their  acceptance  by  China, 
however,  must  altogether  depend  upon  the  value  she 
places  on  Japan’s  friendship  and  ability.  It  is  to 
be  sincerely  regretted  that  Japan  failed  to  impress 
upon  China  her  ability  and  sincerity  to  work  good 
for  China. 

Once  China  sees  the  point,  I can  see  no  reason 


America  and  Japan 


25 


why  she  should  be  slow  to  accept  some  of  Japan’s 
proposals.  I can  see  no  force  in  the  contention  that 
the  request  to  employ  Japanese  political,  military, 
and  financial  advisers  is  an  assertion  by  Japan  of 
her  political  paramountcy  over  China.  Does  not 
China  employ  many  foreign  advisers— political,  finan- 
cial, and  military?  Is  not  Peking  populated  by 
scores  of  such  titular  foreign  advisers — European 
and  American?  Out  of  3938  foreign  employees  in 
China  there  are  at  present  245  Japanese,  while  the 
remainder  is  made  up  of  1105  English,  1003  French, 
533  Germans,  463  Russians,  174  Americans  and 
others.  Nor  is  there  any  reason  why  China  should 
not  heed  the  advice  of  her  friend,  which  aims  at 
efficiency  and  uniformity  of  arms  and  ammunitions. 
The  present  war  has  conclusively  demonstrated  that 
munitions  are  the  most  important  factor  in  the  success 
of  modern  warfare.  If  China  is  courageous  enough 
to  acknowledge  her  awful  deficiency  in  this  respect, 
and  wise  enough  to  take  steps  to  mend  the  matter, 
why  should  she  refuse  the  proposal  of  Japan?  Still 
less  is  it  easy  to  comprehend  why  Japan  is  not 
entitled  to  enjoy  in  China  the  same  privilege  of 
religious  propagandism  and  of  holding  land  and  prop- 
erty for  the  purpose  of  education  and  charity  which 
the  Western  nations  have  been  enjoying  for  dec- 
ades. Christian  nations  have  forced  upon  China, 


26 


America  and  Japan 


at  the  cannon’s  mouth,  the  freedom  of  religious  faith 
and  propagandism.  With  what  justice  shall  these 
nations  condemn  Japan  when  she  advocates  the 
same  freedom  in  the  Far  East? 

In  short,  to  cement  the  bond  of  amity  and  friend- 
ship with  China  and  work  out  together  their  own 
destinies  in  the  Far  East  is,  then,  the  fundamental 
China  policy  of  Japan.  For  upon  their  cooperation, 
not  enmity,  depends  the  healthy  political  develop- 
ment of  the  Far  East.  And  at  the  same  time,  co- 
operation and  not  antagonism,  I believe,  should  be 
the  watchword  to  guide  the  course  of  America  and 
Japan  in  the  Far  East.  In  saying  this  I am  sure 
that  I shall  have  the  approval  and  indorsement  of 
the  vast  majority  of  the  American  people. 

SOLID  GROUNDS  FOR  AMERICAN-JAPANESE  FRIENDSHIP 

To  sum  up:  The  Japanese-Califomia  question  is 
no  cause  for  war.  The  Monroe  Doctrine  acts  only  as 
a brake  to  prevent  a clash  of  interests,  not  to  bring  it 
about.  The  Pacific  is  broad  enough  to  accommodate 
without  jostling  all  the  navies  and  merchant  fleets 
of  both  nations  on  its  opposite  shores.  The  course 
of  America  and  Japan  in  China  runs  on  parallel  not 
conflicting  lines,  with  only  this  difference,  that  Japan 
has  most  vital  political  interests  in  China  while 


America  and  Japan 


27 


America  has  not,  and  Japan  realizes  better  than 
America  the  danger  involved  in  China’s  weakness, 
and  is,  therefore,  zealously  eager  for  her  regeneration. 
What  causes  are  there,  then,  that  would  warrant 
the  heinous  outcry  of  yellow  journals  and  jingoists 
that  “war  is  inevitable  between  America  and  Japan  ” ? 
None  whatever.  On  the  contrary,  solid  and  per- 
manent interests  of  both  countries  call  loudly  for 
the  continuance  of  their  traditional  friendship.  To 
Japan,  war  with  America  would  be  suicidal.  The 
country  that  imports  most  from  Japan  is  the  United 
States  of  America.  Were  she  to  stop  buying  Japan’s 
stable  products — silk,  tea,  and  art  objects — Japan’s 
economic  life  would  be  immediately  paralyzed. 
Nevertheless  Japan’s  friendship  toward  America 
does  not  come — God  forbid! — from  these  sordid 
motives,  but  from  her  love  of  American  ideals.  Nor 
does  Japan’s  respect  for  America  spring  from  the 
array  of  hundreds  of  dreadnoughts,  millions  of 
soldiers,  and  mountains  of  gold  and  treasure  that 
America  has  or  can  provide.  Japan’s  sincere  admira- 
tion and  regard  for  America  has  its  fountain  in  its 
deep  conviction  that  America’s  greatness  rests  upon 
her  sense  of  justice,  fairness,  and  humanity. 


WEAK  POINTS  IN  MR.  REA’S  ARMOR  AND 
METHOD 

T.  Iyenaga 

Mr.  Rea  discusses  in  his  pamphlet  many  topics 
and  makes  many  sweeping  assertions.  Refutation 
of  some  of  these  contentions  is  found  in  the  articles 
that  follow.  Here  are  pointed  out  the  principal 
absurdities  and  weaknesses  in  the  Shanghai  editor’s 
armor  and  method  of  assault. 

I.  The  “ Bomu  Kaigi"  and  Mr.  Rea's  imputations . 

In  the  whole  series  of  attacks  Mr.  Rea  has  launched 
upon  Japan  and  ourselves,  the  silliest  is  what  he  has 
written  on  the  Bomu  Kaigi  (Imperial  Defense  Com- 
mission),'and  the  inference  he  has  drawn  therefrom. 
He  confounds  it  with  the  imaginary  Kokumin  Gunji 
Kio-Kai  (National  Military  Association),  which  the 
writer  of  A Dream  Story  of  War  between  America 
and  Japan  fabricated  and  advertised  to  be  the 
author  of  the  book  in  order  to  secure  a greater  sale. 
The  Foreign  Office  of  Tokio,  instructing  the  Consul- 

general  at  New  York,  Mr.  T.  Nakamura,  made  a 

28 


Weak  Points  in  Editor’s  Assault  29 


categorical  denial  of  the  existence  at  that  time  of  the 
assumed  Kokumin  Gunji  Kio-Kai.  The  Bomu 
Kaigi  (Imperial  Defense  Commission)  and  the 
faked  Kokumin  Gunji  Kio-Kai  (National  Military 
Association)  are,  however,  two  entirely  different 
things ; one  actually  exists,  while  the  other  is  a pure 
fabrication.  Unable  to  make  a clear  distinction 
between  the  two  terms — the  Bomu  Kaigi  and  the 
Kokumin  Gunji  Kio-Kai — Mr.  Rea  accuses  us  that 
we  are  making  an  effort  to  conceal  the  existence  of 
the  Imperial  Defense  Commission,  which  is  tanta- 
mount to  saying  that  we  are  either  liars  or  impos- 
tors. One  would  find  it  difficult  to  find  another 
instance  of  such  a ridiculous  performance  as  this, 
especially  of  one  who  masquerades  before  the  world 
as  an  authority  on  the  Far  East. 

Would  that  Mr.  Rea  had  learned  the  Japanese 
language,  or  provided  for  himself  a competent 
Japanese  tutor!  He  would,  then,  never  have  fallen 
into  a pit  of  shame,  wherefrom  nothing  but  manly 
confession  of  one’s  ignorance  can  rescue  him.  In 
Japan  even  a child  attending  common  school  knows 
the  distinction  between  the  two  names  above  re- 
ferred to.  The  existence  of  Bomu  Kaigi  is  a matter 
of  common  knowledge  in  Japan  as  that  of  the  Depart- 
ment for  Foreign  Affairs.  The  Commission  is  part 
and  parcel  of  the  Japanese  Government,  as  the  Naval 


30  Weak  Points  in  Editor’s  Assault 


General  Board  or  General  Staff  is  of  the  American 
Government.  The  organization  of  the  Imperial 
Defense  Commission  was  promulgated  on  June  23, 
1914,  and  duly  recorded  in  the  Official  Gazette. 
No  chancellery,  no  State  Department,  no  well- 
informed  person  in  Europe  or  America  remains 
ignorant  of  the  existence  of  the  Bomu  Kaigi.  One 
must  indeed  be  a fool  or  an  inmate  of  an  insane  asylum 
who  attempts  to  conceal  the  existence  of  such  a 
well-known  body. 

After  triumphantly  exposing,  so  it  seems  to  him, 
the  organization  of  the  Imperial  Defense  Commis- 
sion, Mr.  Rea  goes  on  to  dovetail  its  creation  with 
the  crisis  which  in  his  view  was  at  that  time  impend- 
ing in  the  relations  between  the  United  States  and 
Japan  owing  to  the  California- Japanese  controversy. 
For  his  enlightenment  let  me  briefly  sketch  the 
history  that  led  to  the  creation  of  the  Bomu  Kaigi. 

In  the  political  history  of  Japan  since  the  Russo- 
Japanese  War,  there  had  been  no  other  question 
that  contributed  more  to  its  stormy  life  than  the 
question  of  the  increase  of  Japan’s  military  forces. 
For  this  question  was  constantly  used  as  a tool  to 
gain  political  mastery  by  two  opposing  political 
factions,  which  were  backed  by  army  and  navy 
leaders.  The  army  authorities  and  their  partisans 
were  ever  on  the  alert  to  insist  on  an  increase  of  two 


Weak  Points  in  Editor’s  Assault  31 


army  divisions  to  be  stationed  in  Korea.  The  storm 
at  last  broke  out  in  1912  when  under  the  second 
Saionji  Cabinet  the  War  Office  made  a determined 
effort  to  have  the  programme  of  the  increase  of  two 
divisions  included  in  the  budget  of  1913.  The 
Premier  rejected  the  proposal  on  financial  grounds. 
The  upshot  of  the  deadlock  thus  occasioned  was  the 
resignation  of  the  minister  of  war,  which  was  soon 
followed  by  the  resignation  of  the  Saionji  Cabinet. 
The  political  commotion  started  by  the  question  of 
army  increase  continued  in  one  form  or  another 
until  two  more  succeeding  cabinets  fell  in  the  course 
of  a year  or  so,  and  the  Okuma  Cabinet  was  formed 
in  April,  1914.  Before  its  formation,  while  Prince 
Katsura  was  heading  the  third  Katsura  Cabinet, 
that  clever  statesman  tried  to  ward  off  the  danger 
involved  in  the  question  of  army  increase  by  advo- 
cating the  establishment  of  a Kokubo  Kaigi  (Impe- 
rial Defense  Commission),  but  his  cabinet  had  such 
a short  lease  of  life  that  the  plan  was  not  put  through. 
The  Imperial  Defense  Commission  under  the  title 
Bomu  Kaigi  was  at  last  created  in  June,  1914,  under 
the  Okuma  Cabinet,  with  the  Prime  Minister  (its 
ex-officio  president)  and  the  Foreign,  Finance,  War, 
and  Navy  ministers,  Chief  of  General  Staff  and  Chief 
of  the  Naval  Command,  as  its  members.  The  crea- 
tion of  the  commission,  it  will  thus  be  seen,  was  due  to 


3 2 Weak  Points  in  Editor’s  Assault 


an  effort  to  harmonize  the  army  and  navy  authorities 
and  their  partisans  and  to  keep  the  question  of 
national  defense  in  the  hands  of  ministers  of  state 
and  military  experts  and  prevent  it  from  being  made 
a pawn  in  the  game  of  domestic  politics.  It  had 
nothing  to  do  with  the  Japanese- American  re- 
lation. Mr.  Rea  has  built  his  castle  upon 
sand,  upon  half-baked  knowledge  or  wilful  misin- 
terpretation. 

II.  Mr.  Rea's  quotations  and  their  import. 

In  quoting  the  utterances  or  writings  of  Japanese 
statesmen  and  publicists  Mr.  Rea  has  so  garbled 
and  mutilated  them  that  they  have  often  lost  their 
original  significance  or  even  convey  different  mean- 
ings. He  has  thus  exposed  himself  to  a charge  that 
he  is  not  seeking  the  truth  but  has  some  ulterior 
object  to  accomplish.  A few  illustrations  will  suffice 
to  prove  my  point.  Let  my  readers  compare  what 
Mr.  Rea  has  quoted  and  the  original  texts,  and  they 
will  be  competent  judges  of  the  significance  of  the 
difference  existing  between  the  two. 

In  opening  his  tirade,  Mr.  Rea  quotes  from  Count 
Okuma,  Japan’s  present  Premier,  and  makes  it  in 
fact  the  fundamental  text  of  his  whole  preaching. 
These  two  texts  speak  for  themselves: 


Weak  Points  in  Editor’s  Assault  33 


Mr.  Rea's  Quotation 

“To  know  one’s  enemy 
and  to  know  one’s  self  is 
a strategical  maxim  that 
should  always  be  acted 
upon.” 

Instead  of  quoting  fur- 
ther from  Count  Okuma, 
Mr.  Rea  then  quotes  from 
the  Japan  magazine,  which 
commenting  editorially  on 
a statement  made  by  Count 
Okuma  on  a different  occa- 
sion said:  “Evidently  the 
premier  regards  the  enemy 
as  somewhere  located  in  the 
West;  for  he  says  that  the 
apparent  enmity  between 
East  and  West  has  its  roots 
in  the  arrogant  conviction 
of  Western  nations  that 
Asiatics  are  inferior  and  to 
be  made  the  easy  victim  of 
Western  aggression.” 

In  the  same  chapter  he 
ing  fashion : 

What  Mr.  Rea  quotes: 

“Unless  America  comes 
to  an  understanding  of  the 


The  Original 

“To  know  one’s  enemy 
and  to  know  one’s  self  is 
a strategical  maxim  that 
should  always  be  acted 
upon.  . . . Japan  has  no 
real  enemy  in  the  West. 
Her  nearest  possible  ene- 
mies are  those  Oriental 
nations  who  retard  the 
march  of  modern  progress 
and  invite  Western  aggres- 
sion. For  this  reason  the 
greatest  danger  lies  at  Ja- 
pan’s door  in  China.” 

There  is  no  ambiguity 
about  the  utterance  of 
Count  Okuma.  It  is  sim- 
ply preposterous  to  quote 
a part  of  his  speech  and, 
then,  quoting  another’s 
writing,  go  persuading 
others  that  what  the  Count 
had  in  mind  as  “enemy” 
is  the  United  States. 

quotes  me  in  the  follow- 

What  the  N.  Y.  “ Tribune  ” 
reported: 

“Unless  America  comes 
to  an  understanding  of  the 


3 


34  Weak  Points  in  Editor’s  Assault 


Japanese  viewpoint,  I in- 
dulge in  the  prediction  that 
there  will  be  more  serious 
disturbances  in  the  rela- 
tions between  Japan  and 
America  than  has  been 
caused  by  the  California 
affair.” 

To  my  utterance  is  thus 
given  an  impression  of  a 
threatening  tone. 


Japanese  viewpoint,  I in- 
dulge in  the  prediction  that 
there  will  be  more  serious 
disturbances  in  the  rela- 
tions between  Japan  and 
America  than  has  been 
caused  by  the  California 
affair.  We  are  going  to 
remain  the  firm  and  best 
friends  of  China.  Our  aim 
is  to  help  China  develop. 
. . . Help  us  to  solve  the 
question  of  what  our  best 
policy  in  the  East  is.”  ( N . 
Y.  “ Tribune ,”  May  20, 
1914.) 


In  trying  to  persuade  his  readers  how  in  his  view 
Japan  is  determined  to  attack  the  United  States, 
Mr.  Rea  takes  the  text  from  Count  Okuma’s  writing 
in  the  Shin  Nippon  and  clips  and  alters  the  quota- 
tion to  suit  his  purpose.  Here  are  the  two  texts: 


What  Mr.  Rea  quotes: 

“We  must  at  all  costs 
fight  against  the  Kaiser’s 
spirit  of  conquest  until 
we  have  crushed  it.  But 
when  this  spirit  of  conquest 
is  crushed,  the  German 
people  will  not  be  crushed 
with  it.  They  will  only 
free  themselves  from  the 


The  original 

“Although  we  hold  Ger- 
many as  our  enemy,  yet 
we  do  not  forget  the  part 
played  by  Germany.  Schol- 
arship knows  no  boundary 
line,  no  racial  distinction. 
Truth  exists  in  the  universe 
and  no  one  nation  is  al- 
lowed to  monopolize  it. 


Weak  Points  in  Editor’s  Assault  35 


wrong  leaders,  or  be  gov- 
erned by  those  who  have 
mended  their  ways.  Our 
attitude  toward  the  A merican 
people  will  be  the  same.  We 
shall  attack  any  mistaken 
ideas  or  policies  without 
mercy." 

The  italics  are  Mr.  Rea’s. 


In  future,  as  in  the  past, 
we  will  continue  to  pay  our 
respect  to  German  knowl- 
edge and  scientfic  genius. 
But  we  must  at  all  costs 
fight  against  the  Kaiser’s 
spirit  of  conquest  until  we 
shall  have  crushed  it.  But 
when  thisispirit  of  conquest 
is  crushed,  the  German  peo- 
ple will  not  be  crushed 
with  it.  They  will  only 
free  themselves  from  the 
wrong  leaders  or  be  gov- 
erned by  those  who  have 
mended  their  ways. 

“Our  attitude  towards 
the  American  people  will 
be  the  same.  We  shall 
attack  any  mistaken  ideas 
or  policies  without  mercy. 
We  do  not,  of  course,  hate 
the  individuals.  The  time 
now  has  come  when  hu- 
manity should  awaken.  The 
present  war  has  brought 
about  the  opportunity.  We 
should  free  ourselves  from 
the  mistaken  racial  con- 
ceptions arising  from  pre- 
judice.” 


Can  any  sane  American  have  any  objection  to 
these  noble  and  fearless  utterances  of  Japan’s  “Grand 


36  Weak  Points  in  Editors  Assault 


Old  Man"?  Are  not  some  Americans  attacking 
without  mercy  what  they  consider  to  be  mistaken 
ideas  and  policies  of  Japan?  Shall  we  be  denied  the 
same  privilege?  No  one  but  he  who  is  blinded  by 
his  own  obsessions  would  dare  to  belittle  American 
intelligence  by  persuading  the  American  public  to 
read  between  the  lines  italicized  by  Mr.  Rea  any 
intention  of  Japan  to  make  a physical  attack  upon 
America. 

Mr.  Rea’s  exposition  of  "Nippon  Ueber  Alles" 
has  received  sufficient  treatment  in  the  articles  that 
follow.  What  is  most  extraordinary  is  the  fact  that 
in  propounding  this  topic  Mr.  Rea  omits  three 
words  of  importance  in  the  quotation  he  has  given 
from  the  writings  of  Mr.  I.  Tokutomi,  Editor-in- 
chief  of  the  Kokumin  Shimbun,  and  gives  it  a differ- 
ent significance.  Here  they  are: 


What  Mr.  Rea  has  quoted 
to  prove  “ Nippon  Ueber 
Alles." 

"After  all,  the  average 
Japanese  transcends  every 
other  people  in  respect  of 
ability  and  talent." 


What  Mr.  Tokutomi  wrote: 


"After  all,  the  average 
Japanese  transcends  every 
other  people  of  decadent 
nations  in  respect  of  ability 
and  talent.” 

(The  italics  are  mine.) 


The  text  which  Mr.  Rea  has  chosen  for  the  pur- 
pose of  warning  Americans  against  the  "menace" 


Weak  Points  in  Editor’s  Assault  37 


from  Japan  on  their  Monroe  Doctrine  is  from  the 
pen  of  Mr.  Kayahara  Kazan.  I have  no  sympathy 
whatever  with  the  rabid  views  of  this  jingoist  writer. 
However,  to  illustrate  how  Mr.  Rea  utilizes  others’ 
writings,  it  might  be  interesting  to  compare  the  fol- 
lowing two  texts: 


What  Mr.  Rea  quotes: 

“The  population  of 
Japan  has  now  reached  the 
explosive  point,  and  Japan 
must  adopt,  by  all  means, 
some  method  to  decrease  it ; 
now  that  we  are  at  the  part- 
ing of  the  ways,  is  our  For- 
eign Office  right  in  keeping 
silent?  We  want  to  emi- 
grate to  South  and  North 
America  and  the  British 
colonies,  first  by  peaceful 
means,  if  possible,  and  sec- 
ond by  force  of  the  iron 
hand  and  mailed  fist,  if  our 
desire  is  resisted.  The  U. 
S.  is  a nation  anxious  for 
peace  at  any  price.  She  is 
a woman’s  country,  and 
women  love  peace.” 

(Here  ends  Mr.  Rea’s 
quotation.) 


What  Air.  Kazan  writes: 

“The  increase  of  popu- 
lation in  this  country  has 
reached  the  breaking  point, 
and  now  that  we  stand  at 
the  parting  of  the  ways 
is  our  Foreign  Office  right 
in  keeping  silent?  . . . 
We  want  to  emigrate  to 
South  and  North  America 
and  the  British  colonies, 
first  by  peaceful  means,  if 
possible,  and  second  by 
force  of  the  iron  hand  and 
mailed  fist,  if  our  desire  is 
resisted.  . . . We  do  not 
desire  to  make  conquests 
in  those  countries  of  South 
America.  Then  there  is 
talk  of  war  between  Amer- 
ica and  Japan,  but  the 
U.  S.  of  America  is  a nation 
anxious  for  peace  at  any 
price.  She  is  a woman’s 
country,  and  women  love 


38  Weak  Points  in  Editor’s  Assault 


peace.  Once  women  say- 
no,  American  men  are 
doomed  to  obey.  As  for 
the  Philippine  Islands  and 
Hawaii,  if  it  so  happens 
that  Japan  is  given  those 
American  territories  by 
some  political  arrangement 
well  and  good,  but  they 
are  not  worthy  of  conquest 
by  force  of  arms.  I am 
not  for  the  occupation  of 
the  State  of  California  but 
America  will  do  well  to 
admit  Japanese  on  a gener- 
ous footing. 

“British  oversea  colo- 
nies are  what  Japan  should 
conquer  . . . our  national 
policy  should  be  a south- 
ward one.  . . . Canada  is 
too  far  for  Japan.  ...  In 
short,  Japan’s  sphere  of 
extension  lies  beyond  the 
equator,  in  Australia,  New 
Zealand,  and  Tasmania.” 

What  is  there  in  this  writing  of  Mr.  Kazan  that 
goes  to  prove  that  Japan  intends  to  assail  the  Monroe 
Doctrine?  The  purport  of  his  essay  is,  on  the 
contrary,  to  show  that  Japan’s  interest  is  to  avoid 
her  interference  in  the  regions  where  the  Monroe 
Doctrine  rules,  and  to  bend  her  energy  elsewhere. 


Weak  Points  in  Editor’s  Assault  39 


Whether  or  not  we  agree  with  the  latter  viewT  is  not 
important  here,  but  the  question  of  complete  mis- 
construction of  the  author’s  writing  by  the  quotation 
of  only  a part  of  his  essay  is  one  that  ought  not  be 
overlooked. 

The  examples  already  given  are,  I believe,  sufficient 
to  demonstrate  the  method  adopted  by  Mr.  Rea. 
If  this  method  were  followed  it  would  not  perhaps 
be  a difficult  task  to  make  of  St.  Paul  a rabid  jingoist 
and  an  unholy  man. 

III.  False  allegations  and  base  insinuations. 

Among  many  false  allegations  and  base  insinua- 
tions Mr.  Rea  has  seen  fit  to  heap  upon  Japan,  that 
which  shows  the  greatest  disregard  for  international 
courtesy,  and  is  manifestly  aimed  to  arouse  among 
American  people  the  feeling  of  enmity  toward 
Japan,  is  the  untenable  misconstruction  and  absurd 
twist  he  has  made  of  the  utterances  of  Baron  Makino 
and  Baron  Kato,  two  former  Foreign  Ministers  of 
Japan,  regarding  the  pending  question  between  the 
Washington  and  Tokio  Governments.  Besides  giv- 
ing unnecessary  prominence,  by  means  of  big  impres- 
sive type,  to  the  replies  of  the  two  ex-Ministers  to 
interpellations  in  the  Japanese  Diet  concerning  the 
status  of  the  California  question,  Mr.  Rea  has  so 
ingeniously  misconstrued  them  as  to  persuade  his 
readers  to  reach  the  conclusion  that  “Japan  is  pre- 


40  Weak  Points  in  Editor’s  Assault 


paring  to  enforce  her  demands  at  the  muzzle  of  her 
guns  when  the  opportune  time  has  arrived.”  When 
such  an  insinuation  is  made  we  cannot  but  see  the 
cards  laid  upon  the  table. 

What,  then,  is  the  real  nature  of  these  ministerial 
replies?  True,  Japan  is  not  at  all  satisfied  with  the 
answers  of  the  American  Government.  So,  Baron 
Makino  tells  the  Diet  that  the  government  is  “elab- 
orating other  plans  for  the  solution  of  the  pending 
question,”  about  whose  nature,  however,  he  regrets 
the  time  has  not  yet  arrived  to  disclose.  Is  it  in 
any  way  unreasonable  for  a diplomat  to  excuse 
himself  in  the  interest  of  his  country  from  disclosing 
his  plans  until  they  have  seen  successful  execution? 
In  this  method  Japan  is  no  exception  to  the  rule. 
And  yet  Mr.  Rea  reads  in  this  reticence  an  ominous 
sign.  In  spite  of  Mr.  Rea,  however,  that  those 
plans  referred  to  by  Baron  Makino  were  far  from 
being  bellicose,  as  Mr.  Rea  insinuates,  but  rather 
conciliatory — that  is  to  say,  “looking  to  the  con- 
clusion of  a convention”  between  America  and 
Japan — is  conclusively  proved  by  the  instructions 
Baron  Kato,  the  successor  of  Baron  Makino,  gave 
to  Viscount  Chinda,  Japanese  ambassador  at 
Washington. 

Mr.  Rea  then  wonders  “what  is  the  change  in  the 
policy  of  the  Okuma  Ministry  towards  the  California 


Weak  Points  in  Editor’s  Assault  41 


question,”  and  hastens  to  sibilate  that  there  is  a 
sinister  motive  in  the  change.  It  is  quite  remark- 
able that  Mr.  Rea  fails  to  discern  the  real  nature  of 
the  change  in  that  policy  in  the  light  of  Baron  Kato’s 
instructions  to  Viscount  Chinda  which  he  himself 
quotes  at  length.  That  change  was  simply  the 
breaking  off  of  Makino’s  plans  and  a reversion  to 
the  former  negotiations,  wherein  Baron  Kato  hoped 
“a  fundamental  solution  of  the  question  at  issue 
may  happily  be  found.” 

If  Mr.  Rea  is  determined  to  hunt  up  a ghost  at 
every  turn,  he  will  not  fail  to  find  one  in  every  bush. 

IV.  Mr.  Rea  and  Japan's  press  censorship. 

Among  other  allegations  made  by  Mr.  Rea,  what 
he  writes  on  press  censorship  and  the  implication 
that  America  is  kept  in  complete  ignorance  of  Japan’s 
doings  and  thoughts  should  not  be  lightly  passed 
over.  He  asserts  that  “it  is  well  to  bear  in  mind  the 
significant  fact  that  even  in  times  of  peace  a press 
censorship  obtains  in  Japan  that  is  far  more  strictly 
enforced  even  than  the  war  censorship  in  Germany 
or  the  nations  allied  against  the  Central  Powers,” 
and  that,  because  of  this  strict  censorship,  “America 
is  maintained  in  profound  ignorance  of  what  tran- 
spires in  Japan,”  that  we  are  conspiring  “to  delude 
America  as  to  J apan’s  real  aims  and  policies.  ’ ’ These 
are  extraordinary  statements.  What  facts  warrant 


42  Weak  Points  in  Editor’s  Assault 


such  sweeping  assertions  by  Mr.  Rea?  He  is,  in 
fact,  under  the  illusion  of  finding  Japan  of  to-day  the 
same  as  described  in  the  pages  of  Millard  and  Putnam 
Weale  wherein  is  depicted  “Bureaucratic  Japan.” 
The  conditions  now  ruling  will  be  plain  enough  to 
establish  the  utter  falsehood  of  Mr.  Rea’s  allega- 
tions. Since  the  advent  of  the  Parliamentary  regime, 
especially  since  Count  Okuma,  master  of  publicity, 
took  the  reins  of  government,  the  press  of  Japan  is 
just  as  untrammeled  as  that  of  America  or  England. 
The  only  restrictions  imposed  on  that  freedom  now 
relate  to  the  divulgence  of  state  or  military  secrets 
in  time  of  war.  It  was  on  account  of  the  Kiao- 
chow  campaign  that  on  September  16,  1914,  the 
Japanese  Government  promulgated  a press  censor- 
ship which  was  in  the  form  of  a departmental  ordi- 
nance of  the  Foreign  Office.  Now  that  the  Kiaochow 
campaign  is  over,  however,  that  ordinance,  although 
not  repealed,  has  ceased  to  be  enforced  with  former 
rigor.  Whether  you  like  or  not,  the  press  of  Japan 
now  says  what  it  wants  to  say. 

Is  not  Mr.  Rea  himself  a standing  refutation  of 
the  accusation  he  makes?  Were  his  assertions  true, 
how  could  he  succeed  in  gathering  the  materials  he 
has  presented  to  us,  some  of  which  I am  sure  are 
not  to  the  liking  of  the  Japanese  Government?  And 
the  quotations  from  the  vernacular  press  which  he 


Weak  Points  in  Editor’s  Assault  43 


has  given  us  are  nothing  but  translations  (often  badly 
executed  and  wrongly  done)  that  have  appeared  in 
the  papers  edited  in  the  English  language.  Had 
Mr.  Rea  a knowledge  of  Japanese  literature,  he  could 
find  to  his  heart’s  content  all  the  shades  of  Japanese 
public  opinion  represented  as  in  America  by  the 
papers  ranging  from  the  yellowest  of  yellow  journals 
to  the  most  respectable.  What  Mr.  Rea  attributes 
to  us  is  just  the  opposite  of  what  we  are  doing.  In- 
stead of  trying  to  hide  from  American  eyes  Japan’s 
real  aims  and  policies,  the  East  and  West  News 
Bureau  is  endeavoring  to  make  these  known  to  the 
American  people.  We  feel  the  importance  of  our 
publicity  work  the  more  as  there  are  such  sinister 
influences  as  Mr.  Rea  running  counter  to  the  cause  of 
promoting  friendly  relations  between  the  two  coun- 
tries. Mr.  Rea,  will,  I hope,  not  be  slow  to  see  this 
point. 

V.  Mr.  Rea  and  Japanese  newspapers. 

I cannot  admit  the  justice  of  the  charge  Mr.  Rea 
makes  that  “the  Japanese  newspapers,  despite  the 
operation  of  press  censorship,  continually  misrepre- 
sent American  acts  and  American  thoughts.”  The 
evidences  he  cites  in  support  of  this  contention  are 
the  Manchurian  Daily  News,  which  printed  an  alleged 
cable  dispatch  describing  “a  war  meeting  of  the 
American  Cabinet  to  consider  steps  to  be  taken 


44  Weak  Points  in  Editor’s  Assault 


against  Japan”;  th eYorodzu,  which  published  “a  fake 
interview  of  an  alleged  paymaster  of  the  American 
navy  who  was  reported  to  have  said  that  the  United 
States  was  pushing  ahead  preparations  for  a war  with 
Japan”;  and  the  Yamato,  which  gave  out  a fabrica- 
tion of  a speech  supposed  to  have  been  made  by 
Admiral  Cowles  at  Peking,  to  the  effect  that  America 
is  closely  watching  Japan  with  regard  to  her  sinister 
designs  on  China. 

The  three  papers  above  quoted  are  either  local  or 
sensation-loving  papers  and  command  no  great 
respect  from  the  Japanese  public.  But  what  strikes 
me  as  simply  ridiculous  is  the  nature  of  the  stories 
chosen  as  evidences  of  Mr.  Rea’s  contention.  If  he 
really  remains  ignorant  of  the  true  sources  of  these 
sensational  items,  his  blindness  would  hardly  recom- 
pense the  industry  with  which  he  gathers  his  ma- 
terials. I would  hesitate  to  affirm  that  the  circulation 
of  these  false  reports  formed  part  of  the  German 
propaganda  then  active  at  Peking  and  Tokio. 
But  so  far  as  the  Yorodzu  story  goes,  it  is  definitely 
known  that  it  was  a fabrication  of  a fellow  country- 
man of  Mr.  Rea,  whose  name,  however,  I would  for- 
bear to  mention.  The  same  hand  was  seen  in  the 
publication  in  most  of  the  Hearst  papers  of  the  so- 
called  translation  of  “A  Dream  Story  of  War  between 
America  and  Japan.”  If  such  are  the  sources  to 


Weak  Points  in  Editor’s  Assault  45 


which  Mr.  Rea  has  to  resort  for  evidence  to  sustain 
his  contentions,  it  is  well  for  him  to  recognize  that 
he  stands  on  pretty  slippery  ground.  And  I have 
reason  to  cast  doubt  upon  the  genuineness  of  some 
of  Mr.  Rea’s  quotations  from  the  editorials  of  Japan- 
ese papers,  as  for  instance  the  editorial  of  the  Hochi, 
which  is  said  to  have  advocated  Japan’s  interference 
in  Mexico.  No  date  is  given  to  the  editorial,  so  that 
I have  no  data  to  verify  its  genuineness.  I rejoice 
to  see  that,  while  there  might  be  a few  Americans 
residing  in  Japan  who  are  trying  to  sow  the  seed  of 
discord  between  the  two  countries,  the  vast  majority 
of  good  Americans  are  trying  their  best  to  counter- 
act the  influence  of  those  mischief-makers.  Mr.  J. 
McD.  Gardiner,  President  of  the  American  Peace 
Society  of  Japan,  says:  “We  cannot  too  severely 
condemn  and  deprecate  the  continual  activity  of 
one  of  our  fellow  countrymen  residing  here,  in  fur- 
nishing misinformation  to  the  papers  in  America, 
as  he  recently  did,  in  pretending  to  give  them  an 
accurate  translation  of  an  unimportant  book,  with 
a high-sounding  title,  purporting  to  have  the  ap- 
proval of  the  leading  men  in  the  government  circles 
of  Japan.” 

In  spite  of  Mr.  Rea’s  assertion,  I can  definitely 
affirm  that  in  the  leading  papers  of  Japan  American 
acts  and  American  thoughts  are  fairly  well  re- 


46  Weak  Points  in  Editor’s  Assault 


presented.  Numerous  examples  could  be  given  here 
to  confirm  my  point,  had  not  this  article  already 
reached  its  limit. 

There  are  some  other  topics  Mr.  Rea  discusses, 
to  which  I would  like  to  reply.  But  it  would  serve 
no  purpose.  The  foregoing  are  sufficient,  I be- 
lieve, to  show  the  absurdities  of  Mr.  Rea’s  arguments 
and  the  weaknesses  of  the  method  he  employs. 
However  unwarranted  are  most  of  his  deductions, 
however  biased  his  views,  it  should  be  acknowledged 
in  fairness  that  Mr.  Rea  has  stimulated  discussion 
among  his  fellow  countrymen  on  the  Far  Eastern 
situation  and  opened  their  eyes  to  many  difficult 
problems  confronting  Japan  as  well  as  to  the  impor- 
tant questions  involved  in  the  relations  between 
America  and  Japan.  I feel  the  American  people  owe 
it  to  themselves  to  study  the  questions  at  issue  in 
good  earnest  and  find  for  them  a speedy,  happy  solu- 
tion. What  remains  for  me  is  to  record  here  my 
complete  disagreement  with  the  vital  conclusion 
Mr.  Rea  has  reached  that  the  American -Japanese 
questions  can  be  settled  only  by  the  arbitrament  of 
the  sword.  My  firm  conviction  is  that  their  funda- 
mental solution  is  to  be  found  only  in  mutual 
understanding  and  concessions  based  upon  justice 
and  fairness. 


JAPAN’S  FINANCIAL  STABILITY 


R.  ICHINOMIYA 

Manager  of  the  Yokohama  Specie  Bank. 

( The  N.  Y.  “ Tribune December  29,  1915.) 

Conditions  as  Set  Forth  by  Mr.  George  Bronson  Rea 
Pronounced  Purely  Imaginary  by  the  Agent  of  the 
Yokohama  Specie  Bank — Japan  in  No  Danger 
Whatever  of  National  Bankruptcy. 

To  the  Editor  of  “ The  Tribune ” : 

Sir:  In  the  letters  of  Mr.  George  Bronson  Rea 
appearing  in  your  estimable  paper  are  many  state- 
ments which  are  gross  misrepresentations  of  actual 
facts  and  conditions  as  they  exist  at  the  present  time 
in  Japan. 

With  one  matter,  however,  I wish  to  deal  if  you 
will  permit  me,  namely,  Mr.  Rea’s  attacks  on  the 
economic  stability  and  the  financial  credit  of  Japan. 
When  I read  in  two  of  Mr.  Rea’s  letters  these  attacks 

47 


48 


Japan’s  Financial  Stability 


on  Japan’s  financial  status,  with  their  context,  I 
wonder  what  his  real  underlying  motives  are.  Let 
us  compare  Mr.  Rea’s  averments  and  statements 
with  the  facts,  and  then  judge. 

I find  in  Mr.  Rea’s  letter  of  December  14th  the 
following  bald  statements: 

A careful  consideration  of  Japan’s  financial  position 
shows  that  unless  she  abandons  her  militarist  and  ex- 
pansionist policy  she  will  sooner  or  later  be  brought  face 
to  face  with  national  bankruptcy. 

Japan  is  nearing  the  end  of  her  resources. 

Her  militarism  must  end  in  bankruptcy  or  be  justified 
by  conquest.  Who  will  pay?  Japan  cannot. 

Her  fixed  and  unalterable  military  and  naval  pro- 
gram in  the  face  of  impending  bankruptcy. 

Here  is,  indeed,  a fixed  idea  which  will  not  be 
misunderstood  for  want  of  repetition,  to  which  there 
is  just  one  sufficing  answer:  That  in  no  country  on 
the  globe  is  closer  account  kept  of  means  and  objects 
of  expenditure  than  in  Japan;  that  her  obligations 
have  been  met  without  exception  and  to  the  hour; 
that  if,  in  common  with  the  rest  of  the  civilized  world, 
her  governmental  expenses  have  increased,  her  re- 
sources, her  manufactures,  her  mercantile  shipping 
have  developed  in  an  amazing  degree ; that  alongside 
the  absolute  demands  of  her  military  and  naval 
establishments  Japan  has  been  making  unexampled 


Japan’s  Financial  Stability 


49 


expenditures  in  education,  social  betterment,  trans- 
portation, agricultural  experimentation,  scientific 
progress,  and  national  well-being  which  of  themselves 
refute  the  scandalous  libel  on  her  economic  stability. 
Such  expenditures,  giving  results  shared  in  by  all, 
are  the  outlay  of  peoples  secure  in  their  economic 
system. 

In  his  article  of  December  19th  Mr.  Rea  returns 
to  the  assault.  Now  his  concern  is  over  Japan’s 
high  taxation,  the  increase  in  her  naval  tonnage,  her 
poverty,  the  high  price  of  rice,  the  average  of  the 
poor  man’s  expenses,  all  summed  up  in  the  following 
sad  cry  of  the  cat  in  the  moonlight,  or,  as  you  say, 
jeremiad: 

The  finances  of  Japan  are  in  a critical  stage.  The 
taxes  are  very  heavy.  They  not  only  cause  price  infla- 
tions, but  depress  business.  The  Bank  of  Japan,  in 
order  to  accommodate  the  government,  is  compelled  to 
increase  its  note  issues,  thus  adding  another  cause  of 
price  inflation.  Payment  of  interest  charges  and  redemp- 
tion of  loans  necessitate  the  exportation  of  gold,  thus 
diminishing  the  gold  reserve  and  threatening  to  put  the 
currency  on  a paper  basis.  Yet  the  government  keeps 
on  borrowing,  and  is  determined  to  carry  out  its  policy 
of  military  expansion. 

It  would  be  hard  to  write  anything  more  contrary 
to  the  facts  than  the  above.  Japan  is  flourishing; 
there  is  no  depression  of  business.  The  Bank  of 


50 


Japan’s  Financial  Stability 


Japan  is  full  of  gold.  I do  not  wish  to  utter  unsup- 
ported words.  I might  quote  abundantly  from  the 
current  responsible  press  of  Japan,  but  instead  I crave 
your  courtesy  to  let  me  give  the  following  figures 
taken  from  the  latest  Financial  and  Economical 
A nnual  (1914)  officially  prepared  by  the  Department 
of  Finance  of  Japan.  Bankers  and  financiers  will 
appreciate  them.  Possibly  Mr.  Rea  will  realize 
their  import.  One  yen,  I may  say,  equals  about 
fifty  cents  in  United  States  money. 

Taxes  are  not  unbearably  heavy,  as  Mr.  Rea  has 
represented  them  to  be,  viz. : The  total  tax  is  a trifle 
over  yen  6 per  capita,  which  shows  little  change  since 
1908.  All  taxes,  including  customs  duties  in  1908, 
amounted  to  yen  320,000,000,  whereas  they  increased 
to  yen  340,000,000  in  1914.  To  illustrate  how  these 
taxes  affected  popular  savings  and  business  affairs 
of  the  country,  the  following  figures  are  self-ex- 
planatory : 

DEPOSITS  IN  POSTAL  SAVINGS  BANKS 


1908 

I9I4 

Increase 

Ratio 
of  inc. 
Pet. 

Yen. . 

92,000,000 

192,000,000 

100,000,000 

108 

Yen.. 

DEPOSITS  IN  BANKS  THROUGHOUT 
. . 1,540,000,000  2,120,000,000 

THE  COUNTRY 
580,000,000 

37K 

Yen. . 

. . 6,250,000,000 

BANK  CLEARINGS 
10,200,000,000 

3,950,000,000 

63 

Japan’s  Financial  Stability 


5i 


Since  1914,  and  increasingly  during  the  present 
year,  a vast  improvement  has  taken  place  in  all 
directions.  A bumper  crop  of  rice  reduced  the  price 
of  that  foodstuff  very  materially.  Exports  in  general, 
and  of  war  requirements,  increased  greatly  over 
imports.  In  consequence  the  amount  of  gold  in 
vault  and  on  account  of  the  Bank  of  Japan  has  been 
correspondingly  increased.  On  August  1,  1914,  the 
total  issues  of  the  Bank  of  Japan  notes  were  yen 

327.000. 000  against  which  the  bank  held  a gold 
reserve  of  yen  216,000,000,  a ratio  of  66  per  cent., 
beside  keeping  yen  134,000,000  more  gold  outside 
of  the  note  reserve.  On  November  13,  1915,  the 
latest  report  to  hand  shows  that  the  note  issue 
amounts  to  yen  304,000,000,  against  which  the  Bank 
of  Japan  held  gold  amounting  to  yen  217,000,000, 
the  ratios  being  71  per  cent.,  besides  keeping  more 
gold,  amounting  to  yen  289,000,000,  outside  of  the 
said  reserve.  Thus  it  will  be  seen  that  the  total 
amount  of  gold  held  by  the  Bank  of  Japan  is  yen 

506.000. 000,  wrhereas  the  outstanding  amount  of 
issue  is  yen  304,000,000,  the  ratio  being  166  per  cent. ! 

In  view  of  the  financial  and  economic  conditions 
at  present,  and  in  the  near  future,  this  amount  of 
gold  will  increase  continually.  There  are  minds  to 
whom  casual  observation  of  the  facts  and  figures 
might  lead  to  a different  opinion,  but  the  important 


52 


Japan’s  Financial  Stability 


thing  is  that  they  will  tell  to  the  intelligent  and  the 
expert  that  it  is  the  opposite  of  fact  to  say  that  Japan 
is  in  any  danger  of  “nearing  the  end  of  her  resources,” 
or  is  ever  most  remotely  “face  to  face  with  national 
bankruptcy.”  Japan,  I repeat,  is  flourishing;  her 
business  is  booming;  her  future  secure. 


New  York,  Dec.  23,  1915. 


MR.  REA  AND  HIS  MISSION 


Joseph  I.  C.  Clarke 

(In  the  following  Mr.  Clarke  has  thrown  into  one 
article  the  main  points  of  communications  which  appeared 
in  the  New  York  Herald,  New  York  Tribune,  and  Public 
Ledger  of  Philadelphia,  traversing  many  of  the  anti- 
Japanese  vagaries  of  Mr.  George  Bronson  Rea,  adding 
thereto  some  narrative  and  comments  which  Mr.  Rea’s 
latest  efforts  against  the  peace  of  the  United  States 
seem  to  him  to  call  for.) 

Mr.  George  Bronson  Rea  in  his  recent  pamphlet, 
adorned  ironically  on  its  cover  with  the  sunburst  of 
Japan,  and  which  he  devotes  to  an  endeavor  to  upset 
the  good  relations  between  the  United  States  and 
Japan,  is  guilty  of  a double  offence: 

1.  His  garbling,  mutilating,  and  deliberate  mis- 
construing of  quotations  to  help  his  unworthy  cause 
make  one  branch  of  this  unscrupulousness. 

2.  His  hideous  and  unpardonable  statement  in 
the  same  pamphlet  to  the  effect  that  all  Americans 
who  stand  for  the  good  faith  of  Japan,  against  the 
bitter  misrepresentations  of  himself  and  his  kind, 
are  traitorously  engaged  in  putting  stumbling  blocks 
in  the  way  of  American  “preparedness”  is  the  other. 

53 


54 


Mr.  Rea  and  His  Mission 


The  latter — a black  falsehood  and  an  infamous 
libel — is  not  to  be  passed  over  lightly,  not  merely  on 
account  of  its  personal  bearing,  but  because  it  is 
the  one  foul  item  on  which  he  counts  to  inflame  the 
minds  of  the  thoughtless,  and  incite  a belief  in  the 
coarse  propositions  that  follow  it.  It  is  shameful. 

The  mental  and  moral  caliber  of  the  man  must  be 
very  low  who  makes  so  base  a charge  in  face  of  the 
ease  of  controverting  it. 

He  says,  with  some  glimmer  of  perception,  that 
when  he  emits  one  of  his  misshapen  missiles,  he  is 
sure  to  awaken  someone  who  deplores  the  “wrong 
impression.”  That  is  very  euphemistic  for  the 
utterances  that  should  characterize  his  defamatory 
output.  The  late  Horace  Greeley  would  have 
expressed  it  otherwise.  Tennyson  has  said: 

A lie  which  is  all  a lie  may  be  met  and  fought  with  out- 
right, 

But  a lie  which  is  part  a truth  is  a harder  matter  to  fight. 

Mr.  Rea’s  utterance  regarding  American  “pre- 
paredness” and  the  attitude  of  the  American  believers 
in  Japan’s  good  faith  falls  within  the  first  cate- 
gory. His  garbling  and  misquoting  fall  under  the 
second  line. 

In  one  of  his  latest  letters  Mr.  Rea  devoted  a 
stream  of  inky  epithets  to  myself  among  others, 


Mr.  Rea  and  His  Mission 


55 


slurring  our  devotion  to  America  or,  as  an  alternative, 
our  intelligence.  However  it  may  be  about  the 
latter,  no  man  shall  in  my  case  impugn  the  former. 
A man’s  loyalty  is  sacred  ground,  and  no  Dugald 
Dalgetty  can  trespass  on  it.  That  is  my  personal 
part  of  it.  I shall  deal  with  “preparedness”  further 
on  as  a general  proposition,  I trust  conclusively. 
Meanwhile  let  us  look  a little  closer  at  Mr.  Rea. 

He  complains  of  “personalities”!  Why,  they 
are  of  the  very  essence  of  this  argument.  It  is  in 
vain  that  Mr.  Rea  of  Washington,  D.  C.,  wishes  to 
throw  off  all  personal  connection  with  the  Mr.  Rea 
of  Shanghai,  China,  who  wrote  another  recent  series 
of  articles  in  American  papers  attacking  Japan  in 
the  interests  of  China  whereof  the  handwriting  was 
that  of  Mr.  Rea,  but  the  voice  was  that  of  a mandarin . 
They  were  without  effect.  They  did  not  stir  a 
ripple.  Later,  since  the  Peking  government  has 
fallen  into  its  tangle  with  the  Chinese  revolutionary 
republicans,  and  the  efforts  of  his  Chinese  congeners 
to  enter  the  American  loan  market  have  been  thereby 
aborted,  Mr.  Rea  felt  that  he  should  create  a devil- 
fish flurry  in  the  waters  and  write  his  future  attacks 
on  Japan  from  the  “American  standpoint,”  if  you 
please.  Is  it  right  or  fair  that  he  should  shed  his 
skin  in  this  matter,  leave  out  altogether  his  Chinese 
association,  his  pro-Chinese  incitations  to  attack  on 


56 


Mr.  Rea  and  His  Mission 


Japan,  as  easily  as  he  had  shed  his  badge  of  service 
to  the  Chinese  Republic  and  to  Sun  Yat  Sen?  Who 
is  he  to  vilipend  all  those  loyal,  honest  Americans 
who  like  myself  will  not  take  his  word  that  Japan’s 
policies  are  the  seizure  of  China  and  the  conquest 
of  the  United  States?  If  he  added  to  this  program 
the  annexation  of  Siberia  and  the  bagging  of  India 
and  Australia  it  would  be  scarcely  more  irresponsibly 
fantastic — and  mentally  lamentable. 

Mr.  Rea  some  years  since  established  himself  at 
Shanghai,  China,  and  there  in  company  with  a well- 
known  journalist,  now  of  Peking,  founded  the  Far 
Eastern  Review.  It  is  amusing  to  note  that  this 
partner  is  one  of  those  whom  Mr.  Rea  is  fain  to 
quote  when  he  is  claiming  support  for  his  various 
“views.”  In  time  came  the  sudden  overthrow  of 
the  Manchu  dynasty  in  China,  and  Mr.  Rea  attached 
himself  to  the  revolution,  accepting  high  office  from 
Sun  Yat  Sen.  When  the  infant  republic  went  under, 
Mr.  Rea  went  over  to  the  new  government  which 
has  put  a price  upon  the  head  of  Sun  Yat  Sen ! Mr. 
Rea  appeared  in  the  United  States  last  year  appar- 
ently in  the  train  of  the  Chinese  governmental 
delegation  that  came  over  in  the  interest  of  Chinese 
loans  and  so  forth,  appearing,  according  to  the  papers, 
at  the  Chinese  restaurants  in  New  York  where  the 
local  Chinese  feted  the  delegation.  At  the  same  time 


Mr.  Rea  and  His  Mission 


57 


he  began  his  first  series  of  letters  aiming  to  show 
that  Japan  was  about  to  swallow  China. 

And  whom,  in  his  pamphlet  directed  against  the 
peace  of  the  United  States  and  Japan,  does  he  put 
forward  to  vouch  for  him?  Professor  Jeremiah 
Jenks,  long  in  the  service  of  China,  Director  of  the 
New  York  Chinese  Bureau,  and  now  understood 
to  be  on  his  way  to  Peking  in  pursuit  of  his 
Chinese  employment.  Truly  most  naive,  the  whole 
proceeding. 

And  of  these  is  the  fount  and  origin  of  the  latest 
attack  upon  Japan! 

It  is  inevitable  that  he  who  sows  distrust,  sharpens 
suspicion,  provokes  enmity,  or  pours  poison  drops 
of  hatred  into  the  mind  should,  in  times  of  stress, 
be  given  readier  access  to  the  vehicles  of  public 
information  than  he  who  simply  stands  for  faith 
and  trust  in  common  honesty  and  common  sense. 
Your  poisoner  is  more  piquant.  At  what  does  Mr. 
Rea  strike?  At  America’s  faith  in  the  honesty  of 
Japan,  a friendly,  civilized,  compacted,  organized, 
progressive  nation.  As  at  his  start,  so  at  his  finish, 
he  cries  out,  “Beware!  Beware  of  Japan!”  Unfor- 
tunately the  refuge  of  the  false  prophet  is  the  inde- 
terminedness  of  his  malefic  forecast,  leaving  time 
as  the  only  final  arbiter.  Yet  as  other  false  prophets 
of  Japanese  hostility  have  fallen  on  the  time  test, 


58 


Mr.  Rea  and  His  Mission 


we  may  safely  put  Mr.  George  Bronson  Rea  in  the 
class  with  Captain  Hobson. 

I have  affirmed  that  Mr.  Rea’s  object  was  to  cham- 
pion the  idea  that  China  was  the  desirable  friend  of 
the  United  States,  not  Japan — “Codling  is  the  friend, 
not  Short.”  In  his  last  letters,  however,  he  has 
set  about  his  cultivation  of  the  anti- Japanese  virus 
under  cover  of  an  appeal  for  American  “prepared- 
ness.” Surely  his  cause  is  desperate  when  he  seeks 
to  hang  its  piebald  tatters  on  the  coat  of  mail  which 
America  in  her  sturdy  self-respect  is  fashioning 
to-day. 

It  needed  the  flame  and  shock  of  arms  of  a war- 
mad  world  to  put  America  in  her  present  frame  of 
mind.  When  the  shifts  and  schemes  of  wrangling 
statesmen  in  the  rear  of  the  battling  armies  were 
breaking  down  the  governmental  moralities  of  the 
world,  tearing  up  treaties,  ignoring  international 
laws,  it  at  last  behooved  the  great  neutral  nation  of 
the  West  to  remember  that  her  good  intentions,  her 
long  practice  of  justice  and  proved  good  will  might 
avail  nothing  before  a conquest-crazy  power  flushed 
with  bloody  victories.  America’s  strength  must  be 
as  visible  of  all  men  as  her  sense  of  justice.  It  was 
no  menace  from  Asia,  Africa,  or  Oceanica,  but  from 
the  Powers  at  the  heart  and  heaving  center  of  our 
most  modern  civilization — from  Europe. 


Mr.  Rea  and  His  Mission 


59 


Apart  altogether  from  what  they  stood  and  stand 
for  in  the  great  struggle,  it  was  the  menace  of  war- 
mad  Germany,  Austria,  France,  England,  Russia, 
Italy,  Turkey,  and  the  little  fighting  powers  in  any 
combination,  aye,  all  combined — the  Old  World 
against  the  New- — that  woke  up  the  United  States. 
This  need  of  defensive  preparation  struck  no  single 
watchman  on  the  tower;  it  had  no  original  precursor; 
it  sprang  full-armed  from  the  minds  of  the  millions. 
It  was  not  in  succession  to  any  lobbyist  who  schemed 
before  the  war  to  sell  dynamite  to  the  government 
or  to  build  battleships  in  private  yards  on  pretense 
that  this  distant  nation  or  the  other  had  a measurable 
sea  power  or  land  power  to  do  us  harm. 

Such  calculations  have  been  the  commonplace 
of  the  chancelleries,  our  own  sea  and  land  service 
included,  for  half  a century.  We  did  not  care  how 
many  their  ships,  their  cannon,  or  their  armed  men ; 
we  would  be  a model  of  trust  in  normal  human 
nature  and  continue  to  see  the  normal  in  peace  and 
law  abiding.  We  coined  the  word  “unthinkable” 
to  show  paradoxically  what  we  thought  of  the  war 
peddlers’  dismal  outcries.  But  with  the  progress 
of  events  in  Europe  the  nation  saw,  as  beneath  a 
searchlight  of  a million  candle-power,  that  the  safety, 
the  honor,  the  inviolability  of  this  continent  de- 
pended on  our  being  prepared  to  defend  our  shores, 


6o 


Mr.  Rea  and  His  Mission 


our  soil,  our  homes,  to  the  last  dollar  and  the  last 
man. 

And  that  is  how  America  feels  to-day  and  will  feel 
to-morrow  and  hereafter  until  sanity  is  restored  to 
the  world  or  a wide  disarmament  renders  harmless 
the  human  animals  of  prey  among  the  nations — 
until  the  Golden  Rule  is  more  than  a shibboleth, 
is  translatable  into  acts  the  world  around.  We  are 
bent  upon  it  now  as  never  before  have  we  been  bent 
upon  a great  movement,  and  he,  big  or  little,  who 
holds  any  other  belief  or  clings  to  any  other  policy, 
call  himself  pacifist  or  what  not,  shall  be  swept  away 
among  the  unconsidered  or  the  despised. 

And  to  this  people,  thus  engaged,  thus  devoted  to 
the  idea  of  ample  warlike  defense,  come  Mr.  Rea  and 
his  congeners  with  all  sorts  of  unmusical  instruments, 
shrill  like  Mr.  Rea  or  double  bass  like  Professor 
Jenks,  to  say:  “Japan  is  the  enemy;  China  is  the 
friend;  beware  of  Japan.” 

In  the  count  of  possible  elements  of  hostility, 
certainly  in  the  purview  of  the  professional  soldier 
and  the  theorizing  tactician  of  private  life,  Japan 
counts  for  so  many  ships,  guns,  and  trained,  brilliant 
fighting  men,  but  not  else  and  no  further.  On  the 
other  side,  however,  she  may  and  must  be  counted, 
namely,  on  the  side  of  the  possible,  powerful,  sup- 
porting friend.  Why  not?  She  stands  as  isolate 


Mr.  Rea  and  His  Mission 


61 

in  her  islands  under  the  lee  of  China  as  we  stand 
with  regard  to  the  Powers  now  at  war  in  the  West. 

She  wants  our  trade,  our  good  will,  as  we  want 
hers.  All  her  tendencies,  national,  financial,  com- 
mercial, are  averse  to  conflict  with  us;  all  her  inter- 
ests likewise.  Beside  these  tangible,  palpable  things 
—like  silk,  tea,  banking,  and  scholarship — the  fair, 
courteous  words  of  her  statesmen,  her  captains  of 
industry,  her  Mikado,  her  generals,  and  admirals, 
are  weak  as  proofs  of  friendliness,  be  they  never  so 
sincere  and  timely.  Therefore,  by  the  manly, 
friendly  word  as  by  the  national  need  and  the  great 
gulf  stream  of  profitable  trade,  Japan  stands,  I hold 
and  claim,  among  our  friends  for  the  ages,  and  not 
by  any  cause  in  sight  to  be  counted  among  our  foes. 

This  is  the  story  of  America’s  campaign  for  “pre- 
paredness” to  which  Japan  does  not  make,  cannot 
make,  any  objection.  Rather  should  she  welcome 
the  thought  that  her  possible  or  probable  fellow- 
champion  of  free  government  should  in  the  event  of 
Teutonic  victory  in  Europe  be  able  to  rise  in  her 
might  and  defend  the  Western  hemisphere  against 
the  demon  of  governmental  militarism,  as  Japan 
would  have  to  do  in  Eastern  Asia. 

And  now  to  the  point  for  Mr.  Rea.  Where  has 
he  ever  found  a word  uttered  by  an  American  friend 
of  Japan  against  American  “preparedness”?  So 


6 2 


Mr.  Rea  and  His  Mission 


far  as  I am  concerned  he  falsifies.  He  read  my  de- 
claration of  faith  months  ago  in  my  reply  to  his 
first  pro-Chinese  series  in  the  Herald.  It  is  brief 
and  to  the  point,  and  I requote  it  here : 

I believe  in  the  United  States,  the  doctrine  of  Monroe, 
a strong  army  and  navy,  a fortified  canal,  the  pan- 
American  communion,  the  freedom  of  trade  and  the 
freedom  of  the  sea,  the  forgiveness  of  fools  when  they 
are  not  also  knaves,  the  commanding  of  peace  on  the 
Pacific  in  understanding  with  Japan,  the  friendship  of 
civilized  nations  and  progress  everlasting.  And  against 
all  who  for  whatever  cause  would  stir  up  passion  and 
hate  to  the  upsetting  of  that  doctrine,  I would  proclaim 
anathema. 

Of  what  rags  does  he  construct  his  argument? 
Japan  he  says  is  overtaxed  and  underfed,  is  all  but 
and  soon  will  be  (or  was  about  to  be,  but  wasn’t  in 
July  last)  bankrupt  and,  therefore,  since  her  popula- 
tion is  increasing  (as  prosperity  always  increases 
population) , she  is  bound  to  go  to  war  with  some  one 
soon,  and,  of  course,  she  will  at  once  proceed  to  at- 
tack the  United  States!  That  sort  of  hare-brained, 
helter-skelter  nonsense  does  not  convince  any  one, 
but  is  the  purport  of  three  of  his  letters  viewed  as 
one.  Looked  at  separately  they  are  simply  a series 
of  his  misleading  opinions  and  quotations  and  without 
basis  in  actual  fact  in  the  directions  he  describes. 
He  of  course  foully  wrongs  the  Japanese  gentlemen 


Mr.  Rea  and  His  Mission 


63 


who  resented  the  gross  mistranslation,  coarse  exploi- 
tation, and  ascription  of  a certain  Dream  Book  of  War 
to  Count  Okuma  and  the  leaders  of  Japan.  I can 
add  one  fact,  however,  on  that  point,  namely  that 
the  National  Defense  Board  of  whose  title  he  makes 
sinister  use  was  not  brought  into  existence  because 
of  any  possible  difficulty  with  America,  but  simply 
as  a means  whereby  the  appropriations  for  army  and 
navy  could  go  before  their  Parliament  with  the 
highest  official  and  expert  authority.  I was  in  Japan 
at  the  time ; the  matter  was  so  stated  in  all  the  papers. 
It  will  be  remembered  that  ministries  have  been 
wrecked  on  the  question  of  army  increase — the  Two 
Divisions  question.  There  was  absolutely  no  anti- 
American  feeling  extant  that  I could  discover,  but 
not  a little  criticism  of  Baron  Kato’s  publication  of 
the  diplomatic  conversations  and  letters  on  the  ques- 
tions between  Washington  and  Tokio.  The  exist- 
ence of  the  National  Defense  Board  was  as  widely 
known  as  any  such  fact  in  the  governmental  make- 
up. The  contrary  idea  is  more  than  a “wrong 
impression’’  on  the  part  of  Mr.  Rea! 

While  I hold  it  manifestly  absurd  that  the  only 
way  for  a publicist  to  serve  China  is  by  misrepre- 
senting Japan,  yet  that  seems  to  be  Mr.  Rea’s  idea 
and  practice.  Let  it  be  understood  that  his  “vital 
irritants,”  as  he  aptly  calls  them,  are  applied  to  help 


64 


Mr.  Rea  and  His  Mission 


China  by  setting,  if  possible,  Japan  and  the  United 
States  at  loggerheads,  and  a proper  discount  may  be 
put  upon  his  narratives  and  his  very  hollow  protes- 
tations of  impartiality.  Moreover,  the  process  is 
distinctly  of  Chinese  origin.  Centuries  before  the 
Germans  fired  their  asphyxiating  gas  bombs  into 
the  trenches  of  the  Allies,  the  Chinese  used  their 
celebrated  hand-thrown  jars  of  evil  name  with 
exactly  the  same  object,  approaching  the  foe  as  if 
holding  a gift,  and  then  smothering  them  with  escap- 
ing gases.  The  stink  bomb  was  not  effective  in 
winning  campaigns  then  any  more  than  now. 

And  why,  in  heaven’s  name,  should  China  be 
counted  now  in  a military  sense  on  one  side  or  the 
other?  Her  unordered  bigness  is  her  weakness. 
Her  advocates  dwell  upon  her  lamentable  powerless- 
ness in  appealing  on  her  behalf  against  Japan.  She 
is  a vast  market,  and  the  United  States  and  Japan 
are  at  one  in  their  interest  as  well  as  good  faith  in 
keeping  real  and  valid  the  “open  door”  and  “equal 
opportunity.” 

There  is  no  honesty  in  proclaiming  the  contrary. 
China  is  struggling  to  live,  and  the  United  States 
wishes  her  well  in  the  struggle.  Whether  she  shall 
be  lent  money  for  salaries  or  railroads  depends  upon 
the  order  in  her  big  rambling  house  and  lot,  upon 
her  collateral;  not,  as  Mr.  Rea  thinks,  upon  America’s 


Mr.  Rea  and  His  Mission 


65 


opinion  of  Japan.  Less  embittered,  less  loquacious 
advocates  of  China  might  find  time  to  see  that. 

I do  not  intend  to  follow  Mr.  Rea  through  his 
stories  that  have  “part  a truth”  in  them,  but  it  is 
as  well  to  note  that  his  diatribe  opens  with  a phrase 
from  Count  Okuma,  which  Mr.  Rea  traces  to  one  of 
his  Chinese  sages  of  a long  time  ago,  but  which  might 
as  aptly  be  put  in  the  mouth  of  our  Secretary  of 
War  or  the  King  of  Dahomey : “ To  know  one’s  enemy 
is  to  know  oneself.”  It  is,  however,  Mr.  Rea’s 
drop  of  poison,  meant  to  flavor  all  that  is  to  follow. 
His  clear  intimation  is  that  “the  attitude  of  Japan” 
toward  this  country  is  the  attitude  of  an  enemy. 
Mr.  Rea’s  ignorance  of  the  text  or  suppression 
of  his  knowledge  leads  him  here  into  a quagmire 
of  absurdity. 

Next  he  serves  up  the  good-hearted,  unsuspecting 
American,  blind  to  everything  that  will  work  him 
woe  from  under  the  pleasant  aspect  of  things.  Does 
he  not  at  the  start  misjudge  and  insult  American 
intelligence?  Then  follow  quotations  to  show  that 
there  is  such  press  censorship  in  Japan  as  to  make 
government  policy  of  whatever  he  may  find  in  the 
papers  which  so  much  as  mention  the  question  of 
discrimination  by  the  State  of  California  as  to  land- 
owning against  Japanese  residing  in  that  common- 
wealth. That  is  untrue,  but  if  it  were  true,  let  us 


5 


66 


Mr.  Rea  and  His  Mission 


admit  that  the  discrimination  is  one  which  most 
naturally  hurts  Japanese  pride.  It  is  in  contra- 
vention of  a treaty  with  the  United  States.  Must 
they  not  dare  to  complain  of  it  on  peril  of  having 
Mr.  Rea  come  down  on  them  ? Must  they  not  ven- 
ture, however  meekly,  to  ask  for  a way  out  of  it? 

Long  has  Chinese  exclusion  been  the  policy  of  the 
United  States.  Where  are  the  Chinese  laundries 
now?  Weak  and  without  spirit,  China  makes  no 
difficulty  about  it,  and,  as  Mr.  Rea  has  lived  so  long 
in  China,  taking  the  Chinese  view  of  things,  he  may 
really  be  unable  to  put  himself  in  the  place  of  any 
other  Asiatic  people.  I shall  not  argue  the  Japanese 
contention  here.  Sufficient  to  recognize  its  exist- 
ence, and  to  hope  that  American  statesmanship  will 
be  able  to  meet  Japan  on  some  middle  ground,  as 
Baron  Shibusawa  said  not  long  since  to  the  American 
guests  at  a dinner  here.  And  this  unsettled  question 
for  statesmen  to  solve  is  the  whole  “lock,  stock,  and 
barrel”  of  the  verbal  gun  with  which  Mr.  Rea  is 
bombarding  Japan,  the  missiles  being  wads  of  twisted 
pellets  from  the  publications  of  Japan. 

It,  therefore,  is  pertinent  to  ask  which  one  of 
them — even  from  the  yellow  Yorodzu — is  of  the 
stuff  that  real  threats  are  made  of?  No  “fake” 
like  the  United  States  paymaster  imposition  is  too 
transparent  for  Mr.  Rea’s  purpose.  No  lifting 


Mr.  Rea  and  His  Mission 


67 


article  like  that  of  Count  Okuma  on  civilization  is 
too  plainly  laudable  for  any  race  or  any  people  but 
Mr.  Rea  must  quote  it  at  length  and  wag  his  head 
over  it  as  an  implied  threat  that  Japan  will  do  some 
horrible  thing  to  the  United  States.  One  may  con- 
ceive an  Oriental— a Chinese  as  well  as  a Japanese 
sage — thinking  and  saying  that  the  East  has  some- 
thing to  give  to  the  West.  Of  course  Mr.  Rea  will 
think  a Chinese  might  but  a Japanese  must  not 
think  of  such  a thing,  much  less  say  it.  Yet  let  us 
requote  a paragraph : 

A nation  recreant  to  its  divine  mission  is  lost.  Our 
military  and  naval  power  will  amount  to  nothing  if  we 
fail  in  our  duty  to  humanity.  It  will  profit  us  little  to 
acquire  all  the  learning  of  the  West  if  we  have  nothing 
to  offer  in  return;  it  is  more  blessed  to  give  than  to 
receive. 

Most  men  of  heart  or  honest  feeling  would  find 
some  excellence  in  such  a brave  sentiment.  Not  so 
Mr.  Rea. 

Significant  of  his  method  I note  another  sly  at- 
tempt to  confuse  issues.  A certain  Dream  Book  of 
War,  exploited  coarsely  by  the  Hearst  papers  and 
shown  to  be  irresponsible,  foolish — and  mistranslated 
— is  referred  to  in  such  a way  as  to  make  it  possible 
for  the  reader  to  imagine  that  the  matter  Mr.  Rea 
quotes  further  on  in  his  letter  is  from  the  same  book. 


68 


Mr.  Rea  and  His  Mission 


It  is  not,  and  he  knows  it.  Permit  me  also  to  doubt 
his  quotation  of  a single  opinion  from  a pair  of  princes 
which  he  charges  up  to  the  Osaka  Mainichi. 

That  Prince  Higashi  Kuni  after  his  visit  to 
the  Manchurian  battlefields  spoke  of  “half -human 
Yankees’’  I do  not  believe.  It  so  happened  that 
I made  the  same  pilgrimage  as  the  princes  a fort- 
night after  them,  and  the  same  Japanese  officers 
who  were  my  mentors  and  guides  at  Port  Arthur, 
Liao-Yang,  and  Mukden  had  been  theirs.  On  the 
Liao-Yang  battlefield  I heard  that  Prince  Higashi 
Kuni  had  taken  photographs  of  the  celebrated  Tachi- 
bana  Hill,  named  for  the  hero  who  had  stormed  it 
and  died  fighting  on  its  summit.  I expressed  a 
desire  for  copies  to  my  guides  as  there  were  no 
cameras  in  the  party.  On  my  return  to  Tokio  I 
was  waited  upon  by  the  secretary  of  his  highness 
and  presented  with  reprints  of  the  photographs, 
with  a warmly  courteous  expression  of  good  will. 

Finally  I would  say  that  no  civic  crime  can  be 
greater  than  that  of  inciting  nations  at  peace  to 
mutual  murder,  and  more  shamefully  so  if  it  be 
done  for  sordid  ends. 


CRY  OF  “NIPPON  UEBER  ALLES”  DOES 
NOT  COME  FROM  JAPAN 

Sidney  L.  Gulick 

( The  “ Public  Ledger,"  January  2Q,  igi6.) 

DOCTOR  GULICK  ANALYZES  THE  WHITE  PERIL  IN  THE  FAR 
EAST  AND  THE  ALLEGED  YELLOW  PERIL  IN  THE 
UNITED  STATES 

As  a lecturer  in  the  Imperial  University  at  Kioto  Dr. 
Gulick  has  been  intimately  associated  with  the  principal 
educators  of  Japan  and  as  a representative  of  the  Federal 
Council  of  Churches  he  has  been  closely  in  touch  with 
the  leading  statesmen  of  Japan.  In  regard  to  American- 
Japanese  relations  he  is  perhaps  better  informed  than 
any  other  person  in  this  country  and  possibly  in  the 
world.  He  has  published  important  works  not  only  on 
Japanese  characteristics  and  history  but  also  on  the  spe- 
cific problems  arising  out  of  the  new  contact  of  the  East 
and  the  West.  He  is  author  of  the  proposal  to  limit 
immigration  from  each  land  on  a percentage  basis  of 
those  from  that  country  already  naturalized  with  their 
American-born  children.  This  statement  of  Japan’s 
attitude  to  America  deserves  wide  reading. — Editor  of 
Public  Ledger. 


69 


70  Cry  of  “Nippon  Ueber  Alles” 


To  the  Editor  of  “ Public  Ledger” : 

Sir — Since  coming  to  Philadelphia  my  attention 
has  been  called  to  a series  of  articles  by  George  B. 
Rea  on  the  “Attitude  of  Japan  to  the  United  States,” 
published  in  the  Public  Ledger  in  December  last. 
They  purport  to  give  the  exact  and  full  truth  regard- 
ing Japan’s  alleged  sinister  ambitions  for  vast  mili- 
tary empire,  not  only  in  China,  but  also  on  the 
American  continent.  Many  quotations  from  Japan- 
ese sources  are  given  in  support  of  the  writer’s  con- 
tention. The  conclusion  drawn  is  that  the  United 
States  is  seriously  endangered,  and  that,  therefore, 
we  must  prepare  to  contest  Japan’s  expansion. 

The  author  admits  the  existence  of  an  “unques- 
tionably malicious  and  mischievous  anti- Japanese 
propaganda.”  He  asserts  that  it  is,  therefore,  “im- 
portant for  Americans  to  ascertain  if  possible  the 
actual  Japanese  attitude.”  Professing  his  own  im- 
partiality, he  says  he  has  “tried  to  be  a sincere 
friend  of  the  Japanese.”  The  spirit,  however,  of 
the  entire  series,  as  well  as  the  method  of  the  argu- 
ment and  the  conclusions  reached,  is  completely  at 
variance  with  these  assertions. 

Even  in  his  first  article  he  discredits  in  advance  as 
“ex  parte ” all  statements  by  Japanese  statesmen  who 
seek  to  “smother  and  counteract  the  evil  effect  of 
sensational  anti- Japanese  propaganda.”  And  the 


Cry  of  “Nippon  Ueber  Alles” 


7i 


total  impression  of  the  entire  series  of  the  six  long 
articles  with  their  striking  headlines  is  that  he  com- 
pletely condemns  their  alleged  ambitions,  mistrusts 
their  motives,  fears  their  power,  and  desires  so  to 
arouse  the  American  people  that  before  it  be  too  late 
we  shall  be  adequately  armed  to  resist  Japan’s 
encroachments. 

If  the  facts  are  indeed  entirely  as  he  gives  them, 
and  if  there  is  no  other  relevant  material,  then 
nothing  is  to  be  added  and  no  valid  criticism  can 
be  directed  against  Mr.  Rea’s  presentation  of  the 
subject. 

Admitting,  however,  as  I do,  the  substantial 
accuracy  of  Mr.  Rea’s  quotations,  such  as  they  are, 
I deny  emphatically  that  he  has  given  us  a fair  or 
adequate  presentation  of  the  whole  situation.  He 
makes  no  reference  to  the  numberless  statements 
of  her  most  representative  men  that  Japan  desires 
to  maintain  the  historic  friendship,  nor  to  the  many 
striking  statements  by  Japanese  leaders  as  to  their 
gratitude  to  America  and  their  friendship.  The 
proof  of  this  real  friendship  evidenced  by  the  “Gen- 
tlemen’s Agreement”  and  its  faithful  administration 
during  the  eight  years  since  its  establishment  he 
passes  by  in  absolute  silence. 

He  puts,  moreover,  in  an  altogether  false  light 
what  Japan  regards  as  of  the  highest  importance — 


72  Cry  of  “Nippon  Ueber  Alles” 


the  treatment,  namely,  of  her  citizens  in  America 
on  the  basis  of  honor  and  freedom  from  humiliating 
race  discrimination.  He  fails  to  grasp,  and  con- 
sequently seriously  distorts,  Count  Okuma’s  meaning 
in  regard  to  “Japan’s  Mission”  as  the  “harmonizer 
of  the  East  and  the  West.”  “Our  military  and 
naval  power,”  the  Count  says,  “will  amount  to 
nothing  if  we  fail  in  our  duty  to  humanity.  It  will 
profit  us  little  to  acquire  all  the  learning  of  the  West 
if  we  have  nothing  to  give  in  return ; it  is  more  blessed 
to  give  than  to  receive.”  “If,”  he  continues,  “Japan 
performs  her  great  mission  of  bringing  East  and 
West  into  profitable  and  friendly  communion,  she 
will  have  done  the  world  an  invaluable  service,  suffi- 
cient for  Japan  to  make  up  for  all  the  West  has  done 
for  Japan.” 

How  this  can  be  distorted  by  Mr.  Rea  into  a 
doctrine  of  “Nippon  ueber  alles,”  in  its  vulgar  sense, 
passes  understanding. 

Mr.  Rea  apparently  lacks  all  sympathy  with 
Japan  in  her  many  serious  problems.  He  recognizes 
them,  indeed, — the  terrible  debt,  enormous  taxes,  and 
heavy  population  that  must  find  some  outlet.  But 
these  problems  elicit  no  sympathy — nor  does  he 
give  any  hint  as  to  how  they  may  be  solved.  He 
represents  her  military  and  naval  development  as 
due  entirely  to  malicious  ambitions  and  purposes, 


Cry  of  “Nippon  Ueber  Alles” 


73 


and  fails  to  note  how  her  very  existence  as  an  inde- 
pendent nation  has  been  made  possible  in  this  mili- 
taristic era  of  Christendom  only  because  of  her 
relative  “preparedness.” 

Mr.  Rea  also  fails  to  appreciate  the  real  nature 
of  and  ground  for  the  anti-American  agitation  in 
Japan.  There  is,  to  my  mind,  far  more  reason  and 
occasion  for  it  than  for  the  corresponding  anti- 
Japanese  agitation  in  America.  It  has  frequently 
been  noted  that  the  agitation  in  Japan  rises  and  falls 
with  that  in  America.  The  White  Peril  in  the  Far 
East  has  been  a real  one  for  centuries,  and  especially 
for  the  last  quarter  of  a century,  since  the  “Powers” 
completed  their  partitioning  of  Africa  and  began 
to  turn  their  attention  to  China. 

Inasmuch  as  Japan’s  increasing  population  has 
been  refused  admittance  to  every  “white-man’s 
land,”  in  spite  of  their  enormous  undeveloped  re- 
sources, Japan,  accepting  that  situation,  has  begun 
to  turn  to  the  continent  of  Asia — to  Korea  and  Man- 
churia. Yet  for  so  doing  she  is  misrepresented  and 
denounced  in  scathing  terms. 

If  we  would  understand  Japan’s  policies,  purposes, 
and  attitude  to  the  United  States  and  to  other  coun- 
tries, we  must  see  her  problems  as  they  actually 
are  and  enter  sympathetically  into  her  efforts  to 
solve  them. 


74  Cry  of  “Nippon  Ueber  Alles” 


It  is  as  impossible  to  understand  and  do  justice 
in  our  judgments  of  a nation  that  is  suspected,  hated, 
and  feared  as  it  is  of  an  individual. 

Mr.  Rea’s  entire  argument  is  a striking  example 
of  special  pleading.  Of  his  readers  few,  as  a rule, 
have  the  adequate  background  of  personal  knowledge 
to  enable  them  to  see  that  it  is  such. 

If,  then,  I dispute  the  correctness  of  Mr.  Rea’s 
picture  of  Japan’s  attitude  to  the  United  States,  what 
is  that  attitude  ? I will  be  asked.  My  answer  is  that 
it  is  highly  mixed.  As  in  America,  so  in  Japan  there 
are  jingoes  and  sensationalists,  and  there  are  selfish 
politicians  who  seek  to  ride  on  any  available  interest 
or  prejudice  into  popularity  and  power.  There  are 
swelled-heads  and  spread-eagle  imperialists  and 
disciples  of  the  school  of  Bemhardi.  These  all  talk 
big  and  loud  and  threateningly.  But  there  are  also 
sane  statesmen  and  responsible  business  men,  among 
whom  I may  name  Okuma,  Shibusawa,  Kikuchi, 
Sakatani,  Ebara,  and  Soyeda.  These  men  see  clearly 
what  the  problems  are,  and  are  seeking  to  guide  the 
ship  of  state  through  turbulent  waters  filled  with 
dangerous  rocks.  For  Japan  faces  serious  internal 
as  well  as  international  problems  and  difficulties. 
Which  of  these  many  factors  are  to  control  Japan’s 
future  depends  in  no  small  degree  on  what  we  do  or 
fail  to  do. 


Cry  of  “Nippon  Ueber  Alles” 


75 


A year  ago  it  was  my  privilege  to  go  to  Japan  with 
Doctor  Shailer  Mathews  as  the  Christian  embassy 
representing  the  Federal  Council  of  the  Churches  of 
Christ  in  America.  That  experience  enabled  me  to 
see  how  many  were  the  cross-currents  and  eddies  in 
the  stream  of  Japanese  public  opinion.  While  it  is, 
of  course,  unfair  to  pick  out  as  representative  of 
Japanese  thought  only  friendly  utterances,  so  is  it 
also  unfair  to  pick  out  as  representative  only  anti- 
American  or  jingoistic  utterances. 

Japan,  I believe,  sincerely  desires  as  a whole  to 
maintain  the  historic  friendship  with  America,  but 
the  solid  and  sane  leaders  of  Japan  also  insist  with 
deep  conviction  that  this  friendship  can  and  should 
be  maintained  only  on  a basis  of  honor.  Humiliating 
and  race  discriminative  legislation  is  not  the  basis 
upon  which  the  permanent  friendship  of  these  two 
countries  can  be  maintained. 

War  between  America  and  Japan  is  not  inevitable, 
neither  is  it  impossible.  Whether  or  not  it  will  come 
will  depend  almost  wholly  upon  America’s  Asiatic 
policies.  The  situation  has  not  become  acute  as  yet, 
but  we  must  not  blink  at  its  seriousness.  Nor  must 
we  lay  the  blame,  as  Mr.  Rea  does,  on  Japan’s  alleged 
sinister  purposes.  We  must  recognize  and  remedy  our 
own  defective  attitude  and  treatment.  Now,  before 
the  situation  does  become  acute,  is  the  time  to  adopt 


76  Cry  of  “Nippon  Ueber  Alles” 


those  principles  of  Golden  Rule  Internationalism, 
upon  which  alone  the  permanent  peace  of  America 
with  Asia,  or  with  Europe,  can  be  maintained. 

I firmly  believe  that  at  this  extraordinary  period 
in  the  world’s  history,  if  America  should  enact  legis- 
lation doing  away  with  all  our  race  discriminatory 
legislation  against  Japanese  and  Chinese  and  should 
seek  really  to  aid  those  great  and  important  nations 
to  solve  their  enormous  and  enormously  difficult 
problems  as  they  enter  into  the  stream  of  world 
relations  and  cosmopolitan  civilization,  we  could  win 
them  to  a reality  of  friendship  that  would  be  of  the 
highest  value  to  us  as  well  as  to  them. 

We  would  turn  the  much-talked-of  “Yellow  Peril” 
into  a golden  opportunity  and  make  the  Pacific 
Ocean  truly  pacific. 

Of  course,  in  removing  differential  race  treatment 
from  our  laws  we  should  carefully  provide  for  the 
just  demands  of  the  Pacific  Coast  States  for  protec- 
tion from  the  danger  of  swamping  Asiatic  immigra- 
tion. How  this  may  be  done  I have  indicated  with 
some  fullness  in  many  articles,  pamphlets,  and  also 
in  two  volumes  dealing  with  this  entire  subject. 

Philadelphia,  January  28,  1916. 


“SHANGHAI  ATTITUDE”  AND  ANTI- 
JAPANESE  PROPAGANDA 

Dr.  R.  B.  Teusler 
( The  “ Public  Ledger,"  March  3,  1916.) 

INFORMED  FRIEND  OF  COUNT  OKUMA  REPLIES  TO  GEORGE 
BRONSON  REA’S  STATEMENTS  ABOUT  JINGO  SEN- 
TIMENT IN  JAPAN 

To  the  Editor  of  “Public  Ledger"  : 

One  is  reminded  of  a Fourth  of  July  pyrotechnic 
display  in  the  series  of  articles  published  recently 
by  Mr.  George  Bronson  Rea  in  the  Public  Ledger  and 
other  American  newspapers.  Burdened  with  figures 
to  prove  his  own  personal  opinions,  and  replete  with 
erroneous  deductions  drawn  from  partially  quoted 
statements  of  representative  Japanese,  the  articles 
leave  upon  the  mind  of  the  reader  a confused  sense 
of  much  display  and  little  substance. 

To  begin  with,  Mr.  Rea  states  he  has  long  been 
resident  in  Japan.  Has  he?  From  what  I can 
learn  Mr.  Rea  several  years  ago  lived  in  Shanghai 
— that  acknowledged  hot-bed  from  which  springs 
so  much  anti-Japanese  sentiment  and  propaganda — 


77 


78 


“Shanghai  Attitude” 


and  apparently  he  faithfully  reflects  the  “Shanghai 
attitude,”  as  we  call  it  in  the  Far  East.  But  I can 
find  no  record  of  his  ever  having  lived  in  Japan, 
which  fact  really  accounts  for  his  articles,  because  if 
he  knew  the  Japanese  personally,  and  the  Japanese 
question  from  his  own  observation,  he  would  never 
have  written  the  articles  under  discussion.  It  is  a 
significant  fact  that  those  who  know  the  Japanese 
best  are  those  who  speak  in  the  highest  terms  of 
them.  Mr.  Rea  does  not  speak  in  their  favor,  and 
apparently  has  some  end  to  serve  in  trying  to  per- 
suade his  reader  that  the  natural  expansion  of  Japan 
in  Asia  is  a political  and  commercial  menace  to 
America. 

That  decrepit  old  bogey  of  threatening  war  be- 
tween Japan  and  America  he  again  serves  up  in 
slightly  new  garb,  but  with  no  more  foundation  in 
fact  than  usual.  Mr.  Rea  lays  much  stress  upon  the 
significance  of  jingo  articles  appearing  in  the  Japanese 
press  against  America,  and  states  that  “Japan  is 
steadily  preparing  behind  a screen  of  censorship  to 
bring  her  organized  enmity  for  the  United  States  to 
an  issue.”  I have  lived  in  Japan  sixteen  years,  and 
I know  that  the  press  censorship  as  he  refers  to  it 
does  not  even  exist.  There  is  no  country  in  the 
world  where  the  press  is  allowed  more  liberty  in 
stating  anything  it  pleases,  even  of  the  most  libelous 


“Shanghai  Attitude” 


79 


character,  so  long  as  it  does  not  reveal  State  secrets, 
or  infringe  certain  press  rules  which  have  no  con- 
nection whatsoever  with  the  quotations  made  by  Mr. 
Rea.  We  all  know  this  lack  of  press  censorship  in 
Japan,  and  pay  scarcely  any  attention  to  articles  such 
as  he  refers  to  and  enlarges  upon  as  though  they 
reflected  the  policy  or  the  attitude  of  the  Japanese 
Government,  which  they  do  not.  Mr.  Rea  gives 
this  fact  away  repeatedly;  as,  for  instance,  when  he 
writes:  “The  Japanese  papers,  despite  the  operation 
of  this  censorship,  continually  misrepresent  Ameri- 
can acts  and  American  thoughts.”  They  do  this 
“continually”  just  because  there  is  no  censorship, 
not  in  spite  of  it.  And,  again,  he  quotes  from  Mr. 
Zumoto  (who,  by  the  way,  is  not  the  “Editor  of  the 
Japan  Times” — Mr.  Rea’s  statements  too  frequently 
lack  accuracy):  “The  only  restrictions  imposed  on 
the  liberty  of  the  press  relate  to  divulgences  of  State 
and  military  secrets  in  time  of  contingencies.”  This 
quotation  from  Mr.  Zumoto  does  not  support  the 
statement  of  Mr.  Rea,  and  I wonder  why  he  makes  it. 

As  to  the  series  of  “wilful  fabrications”  he  gives 
in  detail  and  ascribes  to  leading  Japanese  papers  and 
editors,  I happen  to  know  the  stories  and  also  the 
man  who  wrote  most  of  them.  He  was  a discredited 
American  newspaper  correspondent  who  came  to 
Japan  and,  failing  to  make  good,  had  recourse  to 


8o 


“Shanghai  Attitude” 


writing  sensational  fake  news  stories.  Trading  on 
his  name  and  supposed  position,  he  sold  these  stories 
to  some  of  the  Japanese  newspapers.  These  fake 
concoctions,  written  by  an  American,  Mr.  Rea  quotes 
to  prove  the  existence  of  a strong  anti-American 
feeling  in  J apan.  The  same  thing  happens  in  America 
frequently  enough.  Is  the  American  Government 
or  the  American  people  held  responsible  for  such 
stuff?  Or  does  such  sensational  lying  prove  the 
existence  of  an  anti- Japanese  feeling  in  America? 
There  is  in  Japan  no  censorship  as  described  by  Mr. 
Rea,  and  therefore  his  deductions,  based  on  this 
premise  and  filling  two  of  his  articles,  are  absurd  and 
false.  Also,  there  is  in  Japan  no  “organized  enmity 
for  the  United  States.  ’ ’ For  Mr.  Rea  to  make  such  an 
assertion  is  exceedingly  misleading.  Statements  like 
this  blazoned  through  headlines  in  our  newspapers 
constitute  a serious  offense  to  the  friendship  and 
peace  of  America  and  Japan,  and  no  man  who  has 
at  heart  the  welfare  of  America  should  make  them, 
putting  aside  for  the  moment  the  welfare  of  Japan. 

Several  of  Mr.  Rea’s  quotations  from  the  Japanese 
press  merely  reflect  the  fact  that  Japan  does  not 
consider  she  has  received  fair  treatment  in  the  Cali- 
fornia land  question.  Any  one  familiar  with  the 
facts  must  acknowledge  this,  and  few  people  in  the 
United  States,  when  directly  taxed  with  the  question, 


“Shanghai  Attitude” 


81 


deny  it.  We  have  many  excuses  and  reasons  to  ex- 
plain the  action  taken  in  California ; but  practically  no 
one  outside  of  the  State  approves  the  methods  adopted 
or  the  laws  as  enacted,  and  many  in  the  State  of 
California  are  entirely  opposed  to  her  anti- Japanese 
measures.  Certainly  Japan  has  the  right  to  object 
to  them,  but  she  is  not  “only  nursing  her  wrath,” 
nor  is  “the  entire  nation  seething  with  indignation 
and  demanding  that  their  equality  be  recognized.” 
Mr.  Rea  does  not  know  what  he  is  talking  about, 
and  he  should  come  to  Japan  and  learn  a thing  or 
two  before  he  uses  such  strong  language.  Mr.  Rea’s 
articles  are  replete  with  misstatements.  He  tries 
to  make  his  readers  believe  such  stuff  as  this:  “ Ignor- 
ant of  the  Japanese  language,  and  unable  to  read  the 
vernacular  papers,  it  is  impossible  for  a foreigner  to 
know  anything  more  than  the  authorities  desire  he 
should  know.”  What  nonsense!  There  are  many 
foreigners  in  Japan  who  read  the  daily  papers  with 
ease,  and  our  Embassy  in  Tokio,  as  well  as  the  embas- 
sies of  every  other  nation,  have  attaches  who  daily 
go  through  the  Japanese  press  and  translate  anything 
of  interest  or  significance  in  the  public  print.  Also, 
the  Japan  Advertiser,  an  American  daily  newspaper, 
published  in  Tokio,  has  a paid  staff  of  translators, 
and  each  day  several  columns  of  this  paper  are  de- 
voted to  the  editorials  and  other  interesting  matter 
6 


82 


“Shanghai  Attitude” 


taken  from  the  leading  Japanese  newspapers.  Mr. 
Rea  must  know  this,  and  why  is  he  trying  to  delude 
his  American  readers? 

Again,  Mr.  Rea  entirely  misrepresents  the  forma- 
tion of  the  International  News  Agency  of  Japan. 
He  intimates  that  the  Japanese  Government  estab- 
lished this  news  agency,  which  I know  positively  is 
not  true.  The  agency  was  organized  and  suc- 
cessfully launched  by  Mr.  J.  R.  Kennedy.  Mr. 
Kennedy,  after  several  years  of  very  successful  news- 
paper work  in  Washington  and  New  York,  was  sent 
to  Tokio  by  the  Associated  Press  in  charge  of  its 
bureau  there  for  the  Far  East.  After  holding  this 
position  for  several  years  he  resigned,  and  on  his 
own  initiative  and  through  his  own  exertion  the 
International  News  Agency  of  Japan  was  established. 
This  agency  is  a private  corporation,  just  as  is  the 
Associated  Press  or  Reuter’s,  and  it  is  idle  and  absurd 
for  Mr.  Rea  to  try  and  prove  it  is  a government  news 
agency.  The  agency  is  doing  splendid  work,  and 
it  is  under  the  immediate  direction  of  an  American, 
who  has  justly  proven  himself  worthy  of  the  greatest 
confidence  and  respect,  both  as  a newspaper  man 
and  a gentleman. 

There  are  many  other  glaring  misstatements  in 
Mr.  Rea’s  articles,  in  fact,  I have  never  read  any- 
thing on  the  Far  Eastern  question  more  filled  with 


“Shanghai  Attitude” 


83 


one-sided  statements,  false  deductions,  and  misin- 
terpreted quotations.  It  would  require  too  much 
space  to  refute  in  detail  the  many  incorrect  state- 
ments made  and  misleading  prophecies  indulged  in. 
Will  it  not  throw  some  light  on  the  matter  to  ask 
why  is  Mr.  Rea  so  anxious  to  establish  an  anti- 
Japanese  campaign?  Why  is  he  so  eager  to  inflame 
the  people  of  America  against  the  Japanese?  Why 
at  such  pains  to  produce  an  anti- Japanese  sentiment 
in  this  country?  There  are  a good  many  doing  the 
same  thing.  Some  are  in  the  pay  directly  or  in- 
directly of  Germany.  I do  not  believe  Mr.  Rea  is. 
Some  have  goods  to  sell  in  China,  and  fear  Japan 
in  the  Far  Eastern  markets.  Many  exporters  to 
China  are  afraid  of  Japan  and  willing  to  credit  and 
further,  more  or  less,  any  criticism  destructive  to  her 
interests.  China  herself  benefits  by  the  spread  of 
this  anti- Japanese  sentiment  in  America,  and  invokes 
it  whenever  and  wherever  she  dares.  Mr.  Rea  is 
too  partisan  in  his  attitude  to  escape  the  suspicion 
that  he  has  part  in  some  anti- Japanese  propaganda 
here  in  America.  And  whether  he  has  or  not,  what 
he  writes  about  Japan  in  these  articles  is  of  no  practi- 
cal value,  because  apparently  he  is  not  familiar  with 
the  actual  conditions  existing  in  Japan  to-day,  either 
regarding  America  or  China. 

Philadelphia,  Pa.,  March  2,  1916. 


JAPAN  AND  AMERICA 
Russell  Dilkes 

( The  “ Public  Ledger,”  December  21,  1916.) 

OBJECTIONS  TAKEN  TO  SOME  OF  THE  STATEMENTS  AND 
CONCLUSIONS  OF  MR.  REA 

To  the  Editor  of  “ Public  Ledger"  : 

Sir — George  Bronson  Rea  is  very  badly  making 
out  a very  bad  case  against  the  Japanese  yellow 
peril.  Six  quotations  are  offered  from  Japanese 
newspapers  for  the  purpose  of  showing  Japan’s  atti- 
tude toward  us  is  one  of  enmity  fed  on  lies  and 
slanders  against  us,  ever  seeking  a casus  belli,  their 
government  helpless  to  restrain  her  public  journals 
from  keeping  alive  national  hatred  for  us. 

On  the  contrary,  the  first  example  of  public  opinion 
quoted  to-day  simply  raises  a question  as  to  whether 
England  would  take  sides  with  the  United  States 
if,  in  the  future,  such  a deplorable  thing  should  occur 

as  war  between  Japan  and  the  United  States. 

84 


Japan  and  America  85 

Wherein  does  this  show  Japanese  enmity  toward 
America  ? 

The  second  quotation  will  be  found  to  confirm  our 
own  attitude  toward  our  own  Monroe  Doctrine, 
applicable  to  Mexico. 

Wherein  does  it  offend  against  us? 

The  third  quotation  admits  that,  if  any  German 
in  America  should  stir  up  trouble  in  our  midst  (God 
knows  they  have  been  doing  their  best)Japan  would 
certainly  in  honor  not  stand  idly  by  in  the  face  of 
tendered  insults. 

Would  George  Bronson  Rea  recommend  that 
they  do  so? 

The  fourth  quotation  makes  an  innocent  observa- 
tion that  Australia  is  becoming  Americanized,  that 
“no  satisfactory  negotiations  have  been  accomplished 
regarding  Japanese  through  the  British  Foreign 
Office.” 

What  has  this  got  to  do  with  Japanese  enmity 
toward  the  United  States? 

The  fifth  quotation  takes  up  the  Japanese  citizen- 
ship question.  Far  from  being  a belligerent  diatribe, 
it  speaks  more  in  sorrow  than  in  anger  of  our  own 
antiquated,  unfriendly,  un-Christian  attitude  toward 
the  Japanese  people.  It  suggests  that  matters  can 
hardly  be  remedied  by  grape- juice  diplomacy;  that 
the  friendship  of  the  two  nations  can  hardly  be  pre- 


86 


Japan  and  America 


served,  much  less  augmented,  in  the  face  of  our  own 
continued  attitude  toward  them  based  on  unique 
race  discrimination. 

Wherein  does  this  article  show  their  enmity  toward 
us? 

The  sixth  quotation,  in  a Christian  spirit,  lauds 
the  ideals  of  Japan  as  the  civilizer  of  the  East  as  we 
have  been  of  the  West;  as  the  adopter  of  our  own 
ideals  and  democratic  institutions.  There  is  not  a 
word  in  it  of  enmity  toward  any  race  or  nation  or 
creed.  No  Paul  could  ask  for  an  expression  of  greater 
charity.  It  might  have  been  copied,  mutatis  mutan- 
dis, from  out  of  our  own  Presidential  “messages” 
of  a century  ago. 

If  there  is  any  evidence  of  national  hatred,  enmity, 
and  strife,  it  is  on  the  part  of  jingoes  on  our  own 
Pacific  slope.  If  George  Bronson  Rea  considers 
Japan  a real  peril,  he  should  prove  his  case  more 
plausibly. 

Philadelphia,  December  18,  1915. 


JAPAN’S  NATIONAL  DEFENSE  BOARD 


C.  Ohira 

( The  N.  Y.  "Tribune,"  January  22,  igi6.) 

To  the  Editor  of  “ The  Tribune": 

Sir — In  an  article  appearing  in  to-day’s  Tribune 
under  the  caption  “Peace  Has  Its  Arnolds,  Rea 
Answers  Accusers,’’  Mr.  George  Bronson  Rea  accuses 
several  Japanese,  including  myself,  of  skillfully  try- 
ing to  deceive  the  American  public  by  concealing 
vital  facts  from  them.  As  a concrete  instance  in 
support  of  his  assertion  he  quotes  the  Japanese  denial 
of  the  existence  of  a National  Defense  Association, 
which  was  described  as  the  author  of  a book  entitled 
A Dream  Story  of  the  War  between  America  and  Japan . 

As  far  as  I am  concerned,  his  accusation,  I may 
be  permitted  to  say,  is  entirely  baseless.  I have 
very  carefully  read  and  compared  the  book  in  the 
original  with  the  alleged  translation,  and  I do  not 
hesitate  to  say  that  I stand  for  every  word  I wrote 

about  the  matter,  as  follows : 

87 


88  Japan’s  National  Defense  Board 


Latest  (perhaps)  is  the  “awful  disclosures”  of  certain 
newspapers  of  the  East,  Middle  West,  and  Pacific  Coast, 
basely  slandering  Count  Okuma,  Baron  Kato,  Count 
Yamamoto,  and  the  leading  Japanese  admirals  and  gener- 
als as  the  joint  authors  of  a book  written  by  a Tokio 
reporter  and  telling  “a  dream  story  of  war  between 
America  and  Japan.”  The  “Japanese  Bernhardi,”  they 
called  it.  The  book  is  a cheap  jingo  affair,  the  publisher 
of  which  invented  an  organization  which  he  called 
“ National  Military  Association”  as  a bait  to  book-buyers, 
and  named  it  as  the  author.  Now,  no  such  organization 
exists;  the  statesmen,  soldiers,  and  sailors  had,  of  course, 
nothing  to  do  with  the  book.  An  examination  of  its 
pages  showed  it  was  a vainglorious  war-story  effort, 
but  that  three-fourths  of  the  things  offensive  to  Ameri- 
can decency  which  the  papers  printed  as  quotations  were 
fabricated  in  the  text  put  forward  as  that  of  the  translat- 
ors, one  of  whom  is  an  American  who  has  not  lived  in 
Japan  long  enough  to  understand  Japanese,  and  the 
other  a Chinese.  His  story  has  lost  credit,  as  it  should, 
though  it  has  in  all  probability  served  the  yellow  papers 
as  material  that  can  be  “played  up.” 

It  would  appear  that  American  residents  in  Japan 
view  the  matter  differently  from  Mr.  Rea.  The 
following  from  The  Japan  Daily  Mail  of  December 
17th  is  an  excerpt  from  an  address  by  Mr.  J.  McD. 
Gardiner,  president  of  the  American  Peace  Society 
of  Japan: 

To  be  practical  there  are  two  things  that  we  must  do 
and  not  rest  on  our  oars,  satisfied  with  what  we  have 


Japan’s  National  Defense  Board  89 


done.  First,  we  must  apply  ourselves  to  problems  that 
now  confront  us.  We  have  still  to  be  even  more  vigilant 
to  see  that  we  are  not  misunderstood  here  and  that  our 
fellow  countrymen  at  home  do  not  misjudge  Japan. 
And  in  this  connection  we  cannot  too  severely  condemn 
and  deprecate  the  continual  activity  of  one  of  our  fellow 
countrymen,  residing  here,  in  furnishing  misinformation 
to  the  papers  in  America,  as  he  recently  did,  in  pretending 
to  give  them  an  accurate  translation  of  an  unimportant 
Japanese  book,  with  a high-sounding  title,  purporting 
to  have  the  approval  of  the  leading  men  in  the  govern- 
ment circles  of  Japan. 

For  Mr.  Rea’s  information  may  I say  that  in  my 
article,  written  December  6th  and  published  in  The 
Evening  Post  of  December  23d,  I specifically  referred 
to  the  “National  Defense  Board”  in  the  course  of 
discussing  the  relations  of  the  United  States  and 
Japan?  It  did  not  seem  necessary  to  me  to  explain 
the  function  of  the  National  Defense  Board,  which 
I felt  sure  was  pretty  well  understood  by  the  world 
at  large,  since  there  is  no  secret  about  it. 

New  York,  Jan.  io,  1916. 


CONSPIRING  TO  MAKE  TROUBLE  WITH 
JAPAN 


C.  Ohira 

( The  N.  Y.  11  Evening  Post,”  November  21,  1915.) 

BALD  LIES  AND  GROTESQUE  TRIVIALITIES  FABRICATED 
AND  SPREAD  ABROAD  IN  BOTH  COUNTRIES  BY  MISCHIEF- 
MAKERS — POLICY  WHICH  TENDS  TO  BREED  BAD 
FEELING 

To  the  Editor  of  the  “ Evening  Post  ” ; 

Sir— It  is  often  a matter  of  wonder  to  me  how  and 
why  stories  without  a basis  of  truth,  aimed  obviously 
at  the  embroilment  of  the  relations  between  the 
United  States  and  Japan,  receive  lodgment  and 
circulation  in  the  press  of  the  United  States  and 
sometimes  in  that  of  Japan.  We  have  lately  had 
the  “drive”  by  the  white  newspaper  people  in  Peking 
and  Shanghai,  intended  to  benefit  China  in  the  mat- 
ter of  getting  loans  from  America,  establishing  banks, 
and  creating  Chinese  shipping  on  the  Pacific.  Surely 
these  objects  would  not  be  opposed  by  Japan;  Ameri- 
can bankers  and  business  men  should  be  allowed  to 

90 


Conspiring  to  Make  Trouble  91 


regard  them  as  their  own  financial  risks.  By  what 
logic  these  white  writers  in  Peking  and  Shanghai 
should  think  their  ends  would  be  bettered  by  invent- 
ing stories  attacking  Japan,  and  falsely  raising  dis- 
trust of  her  in  the  United  States,  it  would  be  hard 
to  say.  The  stories  have  been  told  and  have  been 
discredited. 

Last  April  a paragraph  went  the  rounds  that  a 
certain  Professor  Sweeny,  of  the  Pennsylvania  Uni- 
versity, had  been  told  by  a certain  Japanese  student 
named  Sato  that  he  had  been  ordered  from  Tokio 
to  spy  upon  the  coast  defenses  of  this  country.  The 
president  of  the  University,  Mr.  Howe,  made  inquiry, 
and  Professor  Sweeny  denied  the  whole  affair,  so 
that  both  joined  in  denouncing  it  as  a fabrication. 
Did  the  contradiction  ever  catch  up  with  the  original 
lie? 

Last  May  a story  appeared  in  the  Yorodzu , a 
sensation-loving  paper  in  Tokio,  purporting  to  give 
details  of  America’s  warlike  preparations  against 
Japan.  In  October,  1914,  a temporarily  stranded 
American  journalist  supplied  the  alleged  interview 
to  the  paper,  whose  publication  of  the  story  has  long 
since  impaired  its  power  to  influence  intelligent  public 
opinion.  A supposed  ex-paymaster  was  involved 
until  it  turned  out  that  his  existence  was  as  baseless 
as  his  stories.  It  was  but  an  incident  of  almost 


9 2 Conspiring  to  Make  Trouble 


grotesque  triviality.  Nevertheless  it  had  quite  a 
run  in  this  country  as  if  it  had  caused  a great  agita- 
tion in  Japan,  so  much  so  that  the  New  York  Times 
made  a quite  lengthy  comment  on  the  matter  (Part 
24  of  the  Times's  “History  of  the  War”). 

The  American  people  will  well  recall  the  uproar 
over  the  “Turtle  Bay”  incident — Japan  erecting  a 
naval  base  in  Mexican  waters,  the  bay  swarming 
with  Japanese  warships,  the  surrounding  land  in 
Japanese  possession.  When  it  was  known  that  the 
whole  story  arose  from  a small  Japanese  warship 
running  on  the  mud  in  Turtle  Bay,  necessitating 
tugs  and  tackle  to  get  her  off,  all  the  furious  writing 
went  for  nothing.  The  United  States  Government 
laughed  it  out  of  court;  yet  I saw  it  revived  several 
weeks  ago  while  th eAsama,  dragged  out  of  the  mud, 
was  limping  up  the  coast  to  dock  in  a British  Colum- 
bia port,  because  nowhere  nearer  could  her  crudely 
patched  bottom  be  put  in  condition  again,  leaving 
Turtle  Bay  to  the  turtles  and  Mexican  mudbanks. 
The  latest  story  revived  the  old  lie,  pointing  out  how 
it  was  timed  to  synchronize  other  Japanese  deviltries 
and  be  within  easy  striking  distance  of  the  Panama 
Canal!  Now  that  story  has  gone  down  the  incline 
with  the  brakes  off. 

Latest  (perhaps)  is  the  “awful  disclosures”  of 
certain  newspapers  of  the  East,  Middle  West,  and 


Conspiring  to  Make  Trouble  93 


Pacific  Coast,  basely  slandering  Count  Okuma, 
Baron  Kato,  Count  Yamamoto,  and  the  leading 
Japanese  admirals  and  generals  as  the  joint  authors 
of  a book  written  by  a Tokio  reporter  and  telling 
“a  dream  story  of  war  between  America  and  Japan.” 
The  “Japanese  Bemhardi”  they  called  it.  The  book 
is  a cheap  jingo  affair,  the  publisher  of  which  invented 
an  organization  which  he  called  “National  Military 
Association”  as  a bait  to  book-buyers,  and  named  it 
as  the  author.  Now,  no  such  organization  exists; 
the  statesmen,  soldiers,  and  sailors  had,  of  course, 
nothing  to  do  with  the  book.  An  examination  of  its 
pages  showed  it  was  a vain-glorious  war-story  effort, 
but  that  three-fourths  of  the  things  offensive  to  Ameri- 
can decency  which  the  papers  printed  as  quotations 
were  fabricated  in  the  text  put  forward  as  that  of  the 
translators,  one  of  whom  is  an  American  who  has 
not  lived  in  Japan  long  enough  to  understand  Japan- 
ese, and  the  other  a Chinese.  His  story  has  lost 
credit  as  it  should,  though  it  has  in  all  probability 
served  the  yellow  papers  as  material  that  can  be 
“played  up.” 

It  is  a fact  that  the  intelligent  public  on  either  side 
of  the  Pacific  has  not  been  misled  by  such  newspaper 
canards,  and  many  of  the  lies  were  exposed  as  such 
by  internal  and  external  evidence.  But  largely  due 
to  the  fact  that  the  public  is  quite  busy  with  its  own 


94  Conspiring  to  Make  Trouble 


affairs  and  inclined  to  form  a hasty  judgment  from 
newspaper  headlines,  such  reckless  and  irresponsible 
stories,  it  cannot  be  denied,  are  loaded  with  potential 
dynamite.  Keeping  everlastingly  at  it  will  produce 
results  in  almost  any  enterprise.  Since  the  Russo- 
Japanese  War  up  to  this  time,  countless  stories  of 
the  kind  have  been  told  by  mischief-makers,  and 
unfortunately  have  been  circulated  here  and  there 
mostly  by  the  yellow  papers,  but  quite  often  even 
by  the  well-informed  and  respectable  papers,  though, 
no  doubt,  in  good  faith.  All  efforts  of  these  mischief- 
makers  in  the  past  ten  years  have  apparently  proved 
futile,  but  psychologically,  I am  inclined  to  believe, 
from  my  personal  experience  with  many  Americans, 
they  were  not  altogether  fruitless.  A sort  of  un- 
easiness, not  clearly,  but,  I think,  sub-consciously, 
seems  to  be  entertained  by  not  a small  number  of 
Americans,  making  them  ready  enough  to  be  pro- 
voked by  any  move  of  Japan  in  her  political  progress 
and  industrial  expansion.  Should  the  reckless  cam- 
paign be  left  unchecked,  I am  afraid  that  unshakable 
bad  feeling  may  finally  be  created  between  the  two 
nations.  It  is,  therefore,  sincerely  to  be  hoped  that 
the  public  may  take  the  matter  into  its  own  hands. 


New  York,  November  21,  1915. 


